From A Past Life
by l0v3m3n0tr3b3l
Summary: It's all about love, fun and trying to stay forever young. I thought I should give some kind of back story on Zayla's and Daryl's history, mainly in their teen years. I'm going to bring more TWD characters into this. One-Shots basically.
1. Forever Young

**_Forever Young_**

 _(Zayla's POV)_

 **"** **Bye, Dad!"**

I waved to him as he beeped and drove off.

I liked walking to school when it was nice out. I let my hair grow last summer and it framed my face now. I had on some torn jeans, a black t-shirt and Daryl's hooded vest that he left at my house.

As I walked down the streets, the house with bushes of red and pink roses in the yard came into view. When I got to the gate, Carol was locking her door. She had on a yellow skirt and a pink blouse under her white cardigan. Her blonde hair was bouncing as she came down the steps and her smile was beautiful **.** She was the sweetest girl I've ever met.

We hugged and kept walking.

 **"** **So, did Toney ask you to the dance yet?"**

She started blushing.

 **"** **He asked me yesterday…but Ed said-"**

 **"** **Stay away from him, Carol."**

 **"** **But he's really sweet."**

 **"** **He's an asshole, plus he banged Andrea."**

We both shuddered.

Andrea Tyler was the school slut and one of the cheerleaders. It was floating around that she was banging one of the teachers, but who knows if it's true. She usually keeps to the jocks, but whenever she breaks up with one, she bangs one of the regular guys and Ed Peletier was her latest victim. He was a jerk, but he put on the sweet act for Carol and she's mindlessly falling for it.

I knocked on the door to Michonne's house. A whoosh of strongly perfumed incents seeped out as Michonne grabbed her backpack.

 **"** **I'm leaving, guys."**

 **"** **No talking to boys!"**

 **"** **Don't even look at them!"**

 **"** **And wipe that gloss off your lips!"**

 **"** **You're going to school, not on a date!"**

 **"** **You better not be gettin' cute for nobody, 'Chonne!"**

She groaned and slammed the door.

Michonne's older brothers, Mason and Marcus, were staying with her while their parents were on a cruise. They were funny guys, fresh out of college and they'd drive us to get burgers and milkshakes if they picked us up.

Michonne had on a jean dress and purple high-tops. Her braids were in a ponytail and her signature, bizarrely colored head tie was dangling at the side of her face.

 **"** **So, you guys get dates to the dance yet?"**

 **"** **I'm going with Toney."**

 **"** **What about you, Zayla?"**

 **"** **You know I don't like those things."**

 **"** **And here I was thinkin' I'd finally get to see you in something other than a t-shirt."**

 **"** **Keep dreaming, 'Chonne. You going with that Greek kid?"**

 **"** **Oh, yes. Demetri, my darling demigod."**

Michonne shuddered in happiness and we laughed at her. That kid was way too hairy, but he did have really pretty eyes. They took a sculpting class together afterschool and now they're basically in love.

We were on route to Skylar's apartment complex and like always, he wasn't ready when we buzzed for him. When he finally came down, he had on some skinny jeans with a white and yellow flannel shirt and the sleeves cuffed to his elbows.

 **"** **Fashionably late again, Skylar."**

 **"** **It takes time to look this good. So, dates for the Spring Fling?"**

 **"** **Demetri."** Michonne purred.

 **"** **Toney."**

 **"** **Not going."**

 **"** **But you'd look so pretty in a dress, love."**

 **"** **No dresses!"**

 **"** **You are so weird."**

 **"** **Who are you going with, Sky?"**

 **"** **Lucas Jonson. He's in your English class, 'Chonne."**

 **"** **I remember him. He's cute."**

 **"** **His voice is beyond sexy."**

 **"** **And those eyes are enticing."**

 **"** **I'd let him do** ** _anything_** **to me."**

 **"** **Shove off, he's** ** _my_** **date you hormonal skanks."**

We laughed and rounded the corner.

When we got to the entrance of Clearview High, home of the Courageous Cougars football team, Michonne split from us to talk to her artsy friends. Skylar met up with Lucas and they walked off. I snuck off to my locker when Toney started talking to Carol. Some of the skater boys rolled by and we fist bumped. One of them fell off their board and I laughed. They were so silly. I sighed when I finished getting my books and closed the small door.

 **"** **Ya' just keep gettin' prettier and prettier."**

I groaned and he grinned.

Dustin Foster was the school's star quarterback. He's your typical jock: popular, always wears his varsity jacket, blonde hair, light blue eyes, blah, blah, blah. Lord knows why he's taken an interest in me, but he was nowhere near my type.

 **"** **How would you like to be my date to the Spring Fling?"**

 **"** **I wouldn't, now fuck off."**

He chuckled. I rolled my eyes and started to go pass him, but he stopped me. My back was to my locker and his arms were barriers on each side of me. I have to put up with this every goddamn day.

 **"** **What, you gotta date already? I know it ain't that Dixon kid."**

 **"** **And if it is?"**

He laughed.

 **"** **Seriously babe, go to the dance with me. We'll win cutest couple."**

 **"** **I'm not going to that stupid dance with you."**

 **"** **You know I'll bug you 'till you say 'yes' and I can be very convincing."**

He brought his face closer and his fingers danced on my arm.

 **"** **Get the fuck away from her."** I smiled as his deep voice came from in back of Dustin. He sighed and put his head on the lockers.

Daryl's arms were crossed and his eyes were fixed on Dustin as he turned. He had on a sleeveless pullover hoodie and I could see his white tank from its neckline. His knee showed through the tear in his jeans.

He looked me over before bringing his attention back to Dustin. They were chest to chest, glaring at one another. A few people were starting to get interested and stopped to watch.

 **"** **Stay away from her."**

 **"** **Make me."**

I saw one of our school's security guards and pulled Daryl away. He'd break Dustin in 10 seconds if he got the chance. We had the same classes up until 4th period. We took our seats in the back as class started. We had a substitute for Science today and he put on _Bill Nye the Science Guy_ to keep us preoccupied. Most of the kids were interested and were trying to copy the experiments while the others were just talking or goofing off.

 **"** **That creep been messin' with ya'?"**

 **"** **He asked me to the dance."**

 **"…** **you wanna go?"**

 **"** **Not with him, why?"**

He started messing with the hole in his jeans and I could see his face reddening even in the dim classroom.

 **"…** **maybe we could…go…"**

My eyebrows inched up in surprise.

 **"…** **to the creek, since you ain't goin' tomorrow."** He quickly blurted out and I smiled.

 **"** **Alright."**

He nodded.

The day went by as usual and I paired up with Carol at 4th class. Daryl was gone before lunch and I didn't see him until after school when he walked me home.

When the dance rolled around, I went to Carol and Michonne's to see what they were wearing. Carol had a white dress that was decorated in strawberry colored flowers, the sleeves hung on her shoulders and it crumpled in layers at the bottom. She had a pink headband on and light sandal wedges. Michonne's was a pinkish tan maxi dress and it had 4 wavy layers that stopped a little further than her knees. She added a green belt to it and brown ankle boots. Marcus drove them to the dance and they waved at me until I couldn't see them anymore. I still had Daryl's vest on, but it was unzipped and showing my blue tank with a white skull. I had on some mid-thigh capris and black low-tops.

As I was walking to the creek, my phone vibrated and Skylar sent me a picture of what he wore. He had on a black dress shirt with a red tie, some black shades and his hair was slicked back. I told him to have fun and the second I did, he, Michonne and Carol were flooding my phone with pictures. I had to put it on silent.

When I got to the creek, there was music softly spilling out from the open door of his truck and the fireflies were already flickering around. I recognized his figure as he skipped stones a few feet from the car. When I could really see him, I was a little amazed. Daryl had on a short sleeved button up, his jeans didn't have rips or holes in them and it looked like he tried to manage his hair.

He straightened when he saw me. My eyes were glued to his chest and arms as he slowly came to me. The shirt was tight on him and it emphasized his muscular form. He nervously rubbed his neck and glanced at me, then back to the ground.

 **"** **Hello handsome."**

 **"** **Hey."**

The first 3 buttons of his shirt were undone and his masculine scent was escaping from it. He smelled like men's soap as opposed to his usual cigarettes with a hint of beer musk.

 _…_ _I've tried to find ways for my own body to stand still, but I can't keep my hands to my side_

 _All they wanna do is touch and my mouth it talks too much_

 _My eyes they see everything_

 _Like the fact I can't explain the one thing I need to say_

 _So I'll keep it here with me,_

 _So I can…_

He blushed as I fixed his collar. When my hands started to withdraw, he gently grabbed them and put them around his neck. It was my turn to blush when he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. He couldn't keep his eyes on me for more than a second and my heart was racing. I took a breath to relax and put my head on his strong chest. I could hear his thumping heartbeat as it slowed and we started to sway. I felt his cheek on the side of my face as I melted from how close we were.

 _…_ _And if love really does exist,_

 _I'd run 'till I broke, bruised and battered all of my bones_

 _To try to make it obvious and learn_

 _How to make it right again_

 _'_ _Cause I swore, I'd be just fine when you're gone, but my body misses you like the sun_

 _But, something inside still feels wrong_

 _Maybe it was you all along…_

I had my eyes closed and I was savoring this rare moment. This was better than that dance, this was probably better than Prom…this was perfect…he was perfect.

 **"…** **you okay?"**

 **"** **Yeah."**

 **"…** **we can stop…if ya' want…"**

I slowly pulled from his chest to look at his face. His steely blues met mine and locked. He was so focused. He was calm and we were moving naturally.

 **"** **Do you wanna stop?"**

He shook his head. I smiled and he started to.

We settled into our previous position and he nuzzled into the crook of my neck. He gripped me tighter and I shuddered as a warm sensation coated me from head to toe. His head dropped to my shoulder and I put my chin on his. Nothing could describe how amazing this felt. I couldn't even dream up something like this.

 _Maybe it was you all along,_

 _Maybe it was you all along,_

 _Maybe it was you…_

As the ending strummed, we locked eyes again. He timidly brushed a strand of my hair away from my burning face and his jaw clenched. I leaned up and the fireworks exploded when our lips connected. His were so soft and I was seeing stars. He wasn't doing anything and I tore away from him.

 **"** **I-I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…you just-"** His lips were back on mine and I was getting lost again.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. My chest was on his and his strong arms held me against him as our mouths gently danced with one another. I leaned back and we fell into the car. Another song was playing, but I couldn't identify the words. The weight of him on me felt amazing and my stomach was filled with giddy excitement. Michonne and Skylar were the only ones in my friend group who've had sex before and they both said that butterflies are a sign that you're with the right person. Mine were filling up my ribcage now.

This was all new to me and I didn't really know what to do, but I knew I wanted this…I wanted him. I wanted to feel his hands and mouth everywhere. I wanted to be his.

I found one of his hands and put it under my shirt on my stomach. I gasped at his warm touch and he tried to lock eyes with me, but I couldn't. I was so nervous. His eyes were asking me to confirm, to tell him what I wanted, but I lost all the words before they could come out.

I pulled my arms out of his hoodie and started kissing him again. He tore from my lips and softly kissed my cheek, then my neck and I grabbed his shirt. God, that felt amazing. He stopped for a second and then I felt his breath on my neck before I felt his wet tongue leave a short trail. He kissed my neck again and then he went to the top of my collar bone. His hands went under my shirt, slowly tugging it up until my black bra was exposed. When he kissed the top of my breast, I gasped and his eyes shot up to mine.

 **"** **I'm okay."**

 **"** **Zayla-"**

 **"** **Really, I'm fine. Just…nervous…"**

He looked to me for conformation again and I nodded. His hands gently grabbed both my breasts and when he started kneading them, I moaned. He went back to my neck and my nipples were getting hard from his massaging. I could feel the bulge in his jeans on my leg and I wrapped mine around his waist. I needed to get some kind of friction down there or else I'd go insane.

I rocked into him once and it felt amazing. I moaned and did it again. He bit my neck before he started grinding into me and it made me tingle. I wanted to tear off his shirt, but my nails were scratching down his arms as he continued rubbing into me. He went from my neck to kiss the exposed parts of my breasts. He found one of my nipples and started sucking it through the cloth, making me moan and push his head into me. I was panting and I just wanted more of him. I could feel how wet I was and he grinded harder into me. I pulled his face up and gave him a hungry kiss. His tongue flicked over my lip and I parted them. His tongue taught mine what to do and then we were fighting to take control. I couldn't take much more of this. I needed more from him.

I bit his lip and he growled. It was so sexy. I felt around his chest until I found his buttons and popped it open. My hands explored his warm torso, but before I could drag the shirt off, he put his head on my chest and a soft groan rumbled from him. His body shuddered a little and he stopped rocking into me. I could feel him panting as he peeked up at me. His face was scarlet and I realized what happened.

 **"** **Oh, Daryl."**

He put his head back down and I smiled.

 **"** **Wanna stop now?"**

He shyly nodded.

I kissed him on the cheek and he got off of me. I pulled my shirt down and tried to get my hair under control while he went to the bed of the truck. The full night was on us now and the dance was probably over. After a few minutes, he tapped on the window and I could barely see him in the darkness. I handed his vest to him and he pulled it on his bare chest. I fell asleep against the window when he started driving.

When he shook me awake, we were in front of my house. Dad's car wasn't in the driveway and all the lights were still off. I was lying on his chest and his arm was around my shoulder.

 **"** **Wanna come in?"**

He started to smile, but his phone rang. I could hear someone screaming on the other end, but Daryl said nothing.

 **"** **Gotta get home…Merle's startin' trouble."**

I gave him a hug and kissed his cheek before I got out. He didn't leave until I was inside. Michonne, Carol and Skylar kept me up for another hour or so and told me about how the dance went. They asked me what I did and I told them I just relaxed at home.

I was a dizzily dreamer and I've never been happier in my life. I cuddled Jinx when I got in bed and he purred on my chest. He was my black cat with a white nuzzle, paws and he had one green eye, one blue.

I don't know what tonight meant for me and Daryl, but I was glad it happened.


	2. Forget Me Not

**_Forget Me Not_**

 _(Daryl's POV)_

I slammed the door just as the bottle broke against the wall.

My Pop was at it again and I had no idea where Merle was. I couldn't take his shit right now, so I wasn't going to come back until he went out for the night. Zayla's last visit was 2 days ago and I already missed her. She always made me feel better even though she had no idea of the hell raging on in my house. She'd always make me something to eat and I could get some sleep in before going back home. I called her a few times, but got no answer. I thought she was at her practice, but she called me back and said I could come over.

Just like she got in through the window to visit me, I did the same when I came over. Her room was your typical rebellious teenager's room. She painted the trims of the wall black, but kept the cream base paint. Various band posters were all over the walls and a few on the ceiling, a blue Crosley record player sat on a stool with a crate of vinyl records next to it, some monster plushies decorated her Batman covered bed and the top of her tall 3-drawer black dresser. She had some pictures of us in and out of school as well as some of Skylar, Michonne and Carol. She had one of a woman I think was her Ma, tapped on the mirror; some of them were framed and on her nightstand. Piles of books, rock magazines and a few comics were stacked next to a leopard printed bean bag chair near the window.

Zayla's Pop never barged in her room, so I didn't have to worry about him. I sat on the floor and rested my back on her bed. Her room smelled exactly like her…

 _Don't even think about it, Dixon. All you're gonna do is hurt her…just leave her be._

I sighed and heard the front door slam not a second later.

 **"** **This is good for you."**

 **"** **That place is for snobby rich kids who've had a golden spoon shoved up their-"**

 **"** **Watch it."**

 **"** **Don't you care about me being happy?"**

 **"** **Babydoll, I'm trying to do what's best for you."**

 **"** **I'm fine where I am now."**

 **"** **They've already accepted you, so it's a done deal. I don't want to hear any more protesting about this."**

 **"** **You wouldn't be doing this if Mom was here! I'm sorry she died and I didn't, but you don't have to make my life into a living hell because of it!"**

There was a deep sigh before feet coming towards me.

Zayla plopped face first on her bed, not even noticing me and buried her head in a pillow. The door was still open and I closed it before taking a spot next to her. Jinx crawled from under her bed and sat in the windowsill.

 **"** **S'matter?"**

She got up and I really got to look at her. Her locks were pinned back by 2 white clips and she had little pearls in her ears. She had on a white polo and red tie. Her shirt was tucked into a plaid, red and black skirt that came a little higher than her knees and was matched with a pair of white knee highs with black slip on sneakers. She looked like she was dressing up to be a schoolgirl for Halloween.

 **"** **What's with the getup?"**

 **"** **This is what I'll be wearing to my new school."** She grabbed a booklet off her bed and faked excitement.

 **"** **Sterling Academy. We make our scholars shine!"** She groaned and gave me the pamphlet.

I looked through it as she sneered at her reflection. This was one of those preppy schools that get most of their students into college almost the day after they graduate. They had some kind of housing set up so the kids could stay overnight or all week. From the pictures, I knew if any of these preps came to my school, they wouldn't live pass homeroom.

 **"** **You wanna go to this prissy ass school?"**

 **"** **No, but Daddy dearest is shipping me off. He's only doing this so he can keep me away from you."**

We were about to start school again and I thought she'd be there with me until the end of it. Zayla was really smart though and she helped me sometimes. Our attendance was the only reason she wasn't on Honor Roll or something. Her Pop probably did want to keep her away from me, but I think he just had her best interest at heart.

She went to her dresser and pulled out a dark blue blazer with the school's emblem on it. She put it on, cleared her throat and smiled.

 **"** **Classes start at 8am sharp and the day ends at 4:30pm."** I snorted at her light tone. She was really pissed off about this.

 **"** **Our lovely female students shall walk with their heads held high, shoulders squared and they should always have the poise of a young queen with her tiara placed elegantly atop her head."**

I grabbed a book and balanced it on her head. I laughed when she showed it off like it was a crown.

 **"** **They shall always curtsy when in the presence of the Headmaster. Oh, Headmaster Dixon! How lovely it is to see you. I hope your health is well. "** She took both ends of her skirt and bowed to me, not even making the book wobble.

She looked so cute and I couldn't help but smile. This was the first and most likely the last time I'd see her in a skirt. She sighed and took the book off. She sat on her bed and I and I sat next to her.

 **"** **I'm not gonna be able to see you as much…the homework load is heavy and it's gonna take up all my time. No more going to the creek, no more sneaking out…no more nothin'."**

 **"** **We got next summer."**

 **"** **No summer vacation or spring break."**

 **"…** **want me ta' visit you at school? Ain't got no problem with skippin'."** She smiled, hopeful, but still sad. They probably wouldn't let me pass the front gate.

Skylar was going to have a mental breakdown without her and I knew the Jocks were going to get on him more now that Zayla wouldn't be there to help. Carol was probably going to give into that asshole Ed and Lord knows what would happen there. And what about me? I didn't have any friends. She repelled all the whores, her locker was next to mine, she always sat with me and we always paired up for projects.

 **"…** **I'm always gonna be here…if ya' need me."**

She grabbed my hand and I squeezed hers.

Her school started a few days after she told me, but I wasn't due back until the week after. I got up bright and early to drive her on her first day, but her Pop decided to take her. I got to drive her on her 3rd day and she already hated it. She wasn't kidding about that work load either. I came to visit the day before I went back and she had her whole bed covered in assignments and her subject books. Once I was back in class, I didn't get to see her much because whenever I came over, she was either sleeping or getting through her massive piles of homework…I missed her so much.

 _Mid School Year_

I was in English, only 3rd period, sinking into my desk with my hood on. I was next to the window and that's how I got out of class so easy, just jump out. Skylar was 2 seats up from me and he had his head on his desk. Mr. Weston was up there teaching, but I was barely paying attention. We were reviewing for the vocabulary test we were about to take and he was prepping us by making us spell these long ass words.

 **"** **Now, who can spell desalinization and identify its part of speech?"**

 **"** **We didn't learn that word."**

 **"** **It's too long."**

 **"** **Does it have 2 Z's or 3?"**

 **"** **I'm hungry."**

 **"** **Can I go home?"** A round of laughter followed that comment.

Mr. Weston shushed everyone before he answered the door. All the kids started chatting and pulled their phones out. This was the perfect time for me to get away from these assholes. I just unlocked the window when Mr. Weston came back in, smiling.

 **"** **A lovely young lady is going to be joining us for the rest of the year. Maybe a fresh face will get you guys more enthusiastic."** Most of the boys started getting gussied up as soon as they heard out it was a girl. Great, now I had to deal with another skank.

 **"** **What up, party people?"**

Zayla?

Some of the people she was cool with high-fived her and welcomed her back. The others cautiously watched. She made her way to Skylar's desk and poked him before taking the seat next to me. He looked back and smiled. Mr. Weston went on with his lesson, excluding giving Zayla the test. We had the rest of class to finish it and I was done when we had like 20 minutes left. As soon as I put my pencil down, a folded note was flung on my desk.

 _4_ _th_ _period is canceled. We're gonna celebrate! ~Z_

I shot her a glance and she nodded to Skylar. I flung the note at him and he nodded.

When the bell rang, we locked ourselves in our meeting place which was an unused janitor's closet and Zayla hugged us as soon as the light clicked on.

 **"** **What are you doing here? I thought you were at that spoon school."**

 **"** **I got kicked out."**

 **"** **Of course you did. Why?"**

 **"** **I may have…hit the Headmaster in the face…with a desk."**

 **"** **You threw a desk at someone?"**

 **"** **He deserved it! Dirty old man…you should've seen my Dad. I think he got a restraining order put on him."**

 **"** **Now you guys can match. So, are we celebrating your return in here?"**

 **"** **Oh, no. This is just the changing station."**

She went in her bag and pulled out 3 black muscle shirts, 3 red strings and something in a black jar. She explained that the kids from her old school wanted out and when they saw her flip, they followed her when she left campus.

 **"** **You had a horde of preps following you?"**

 **"** **Like a pack of dogs. They're actually really rebellious. They wanna start a riot! We came here because this school is filled with badass recruits."**

Then she told us about how her little army was waiting outside and ready to set the world on fire. She said most of the kids here wanted in on it as soon as they heard, so a bunch of them were out there with the others, but to kick start this war of hers, we had to get the rest.

 **"** **You guys don't have to do this and I understand if you don't, but you might wanna get home before all the madness starts. It's gonna get real crazy."**

She held out the shirts. Skylar looked like he was undecided, but I grabbed mine and she smiled. Thankfully, the dim light wouldn't show my scars. Skylar turned when she started changing. She sat me on one of the boxes, took out a brush and the jar. She told me to close my eyes and I felt the cool paint go over them, the muscle of my shoulders and my wrists. When I opened them, she was doing hers in a hand mirror and Skylar was changing. She did his, tied our strings over our foreheads and gave us the mirror to look at ourselves. We looked like bandits…anarchic bandits.

Before we left, Skylar was given an iron pipe, I got a crowbar and she had a metal baseball bat.

We split up to go to almost every class and gave a certain knock. We regrouped near the bathrooms so everyone could change, then there was an announcement telling Michonne and Carol to come to the principal's office. We watched them go and they were sent home. Zayla led me to the roof while everyone else went outside. From up on the building, I couldn't see her army anywhere. I didn't even see the people we just gathered. What if they chickened out? When I turned, she lit a red smoker and was dragging me downstairs. Everyone was panicking in the halls and when we opened the front doors, it was a fucking mess.

There were screaming kids and fire everywhere. They all had weapons, some more lethal than others. They were TPing the buildings, doing graffiti, fighting with each other, harassing the people walking by, but almost all of them were destroying something. I spotted Skylar smashing the windows out of a car and he looked like he was having the time of his life. We joined in on the destruction until some freckled faced girl came to Zayla.

 **"** **The police are here...this is astounding!"**

 **"** **I'M NOT GOING BACK!"**

 **"** **NO MORE BLAZERS!"**

 **"** **NO MORE SKIRTS!"**

 **"** **NO MORE RULES!"**

These kids had some serious problems.

We saw the squad cars and paddy wagons coming and she pulled me behind a car. The juveniles charged for the line before the cops could even get out. Most of them were screaming while the kids tried to get in by banging on the doors and shaking the cars. Zayla laughed and was about to join them, but I pulled her back.

 **"** **These kids are fuckin' crazy! Yer the goddamn leader, call 'em off!"**

She laughed.

 **"** **There are no leaders in anarchy, Dixon!"**

 **"** **The fuckin' cops are here, Z! They're gonna snitch on ya' if they get caught!"**

 **"** **It's okay, we're sworn to secrecy. That reminds me, gimme your hand."**

I held my right hand out and she put her left out. She cut her palm, then mine, but before I could pull away, she had it on her cheek and hers on my right.

 **"** **Repeat after me. My trust is with you. Should I fall, it won't be your demise. I won't tell a soul, you have my word, I won't let them know it's you."**

I repeated the verse. She wiped her hand on my cheek and guided mine to follow. My blood left a straight line on her face. I felt like we just got married…in a cultist sort of way.

She pulled a walkie from her bag and radioed in.

 **"** **Chaos kids to Hellhounds, how we lookin', fellas?"**

Yelling and cheering responded along with the roar of motorcycles.

 **"** **Hell's right down the block! Get yer crazy ass down here, girlie!"**

Was that Merle?

She cheered and started running down the street. When we got to the corner, the Savage Sons Motorcycle Gang was coming to a stop with my brother in the front. She ran to him, gave him a hug and some of the others. She whistled and caught the attention of Skylar and some of the others.

 **"** **Get yer asses on a biker! We're settin' fire to these pigs!"**

She whooped and got on Merle's while everyone else got on another. The bikers pulled bandanas over their faces before they started for the cops. Halfway down the block, Merle gave some kind of signal and Zayla went into the bag on the side of the bike. She pulled out a bottle and cloth, drenched the cloth, tied it on the bottle and stood. She fished a lighter from her pocket and the cloth lit almost instantly. She held the flaming bottle up like she was the Statue of Liberty and flung it at the hood of one of the cop cars. Everyone else followed after, forcing all the cops to back off within a half hour.

The next 2 days were chaos filled, but the cops left with about 10 kids every day. Zayla, Skylar and I stayed at Skylar's house since his Mom was never home. Merle came by to tell us what was going on with the police and brought us food and clothes. More kids from my school joined in, but it was like we were all fighting each other. I think that's the Anarchy effect. We got further and further from our school by the hour and I'm pretty sure our goal was to overthrow the police station. On Wednesday, we got caught. Zayla and Skylar were hysterical on the drive to the station, but the fighting started when they tried to get our prints. Up until Friday, the cops were hauling in more of our resistance and we cheered every time they did. We gave the cops at the station hell with our chanting and cursing. Early Sunday morning, they were calling out the kids who made bail.

 **"** **Daryl W. Dixon, Marshal T. Luis, Skylar R. Hayes and Zayla AF. Krest, to the front."**

We were released and flipped off the cops. Outside, crowds of angrily concerned parents were calling their kids. Some of them still had on their war paint, but most of them cleaned it off. As we went passed, I heard all of them making excuses, but none of them ever said Zayla's name and they gave her a smirk. One of Skylar's older brothers was leaning on his blue car and smoking a cigarette. Jayson was the definition of a bad boy. Leather jacket, low voice with a thick British accent, lip and eyebrow piercings, tons of tattoos, untamed brown hair and green eyes that made girls flip their shit.

 **"** **Damn little bro, you're a badass now."** He tussled Skylar's hair.

 **"** **Hey, pretty Mama."** He winked at Zayla.

 **"** **Hi, Jay."** She was smiling and he chuckled, showing half his teeth. I heard her shudder. She had a crush on him, but the guy was in his 20's and in college.

 **"** **I'm all yours when your 18, babe. Promise."**

 **"** **I'm legal."**

 **"** **No she's not."**

She glared at Skylar and Jayson laughed when they started arguing. He shot me a nod, but I just crossed my arms over my chest. It sometimes amazed me how I could get so jealous over something that wasn't mine. They hugged and the brothers left. A pair of arms went over our shoulders and Merle's laugh filled our ears.

 **"** **Rebels without a cause. A week long riot an' nobody knows who the fuck's responsible. Y'all made headlines! On the news and in the papers all week, choppers an' all."**

 **"** **What where you an' the Sons doin' there anyway?"**

 **"** **Reputation, little brother. Them pigs won't know, but every biker club in the state will know the Sons was part of that madness. Yer Pop blow his shit yet, girlie?"**

 **"** **Haven't seen him yet."**

 **"** **Need a place ta' hideout, you can crash with me an' baby bro. Got us a place while y'all was settin' half the damn town on fire."**

He gave us noogies and went to the truck. That explains where he's been and I couldn't be happier to finally get out of that shithole. Zayla could probably come over more, but would want to move in with us before her Pop found her.

 **"** **Not another step, little lady."** Zayla froze, but didn't dare turn to look at him.

 **"** **About face!"** He barked and we both turned.

Zayla's head was down as her Pop towered over her. Every time he raised his voice, she cringed. She tried to speak, but she waved her off every time. When she could, she nervously looked to me at from the corner of her eye and I've never seen her so scared before. She looked like she was about to throw up her soul.

 **"** **Do you have any idea of how worried I was? You didn't come home for a week! I thought you got hurt or worse! Why the hell were you involved with this damn thing in the first place?!"**

 **"** **I dragged her into it."** They both looked at me.

 **"** **She was gonna leave, but I made her stay."**

Zayla had a parent that cared about her, I didn't. She had a future, I didn't. I could get into all the trouble I wanted with no penalties, she couldn't. I'd take the blame for her for anything without a second thought because she was my friend, the only one I've ever had. She meant a lot to me and as much as I wanted to punch her old man in the face for yelling at her, I knew that wouldn't make anything better. She's gotten me out of trouble countless times and now it was my turn to repay her.

 **"** **Stay away from my daughter."**

He took Zayla's hand to lead her to his car. Before he drove off, Zayla smiled and mouthed 'thank you'. Merle was grinning like a fucking wolf when I got in the truck.

 **"** **She ain't even tryin'. Yer whipped, bro."**

Maybe I was.


	3. Breakout

**_Breakout_**

 _(Daryl's POV)_

I don't know if school could get any more boring, but today was killer.

Zayla and I were in the back like always, but she was dreading being here twice as much as I was. I think there was an acoustic session she wanted to go to today. I liked her hair long and I secretly twirled it around my finger when she'd go to sleep on her desk.

We got out of a paper ball fight a few minutes ago and she was leaning back on her chair, making it stomp against the floor. She sighed overdramatically and a few kids started giggling. She did it again, but she put her head on the desk and grumbled.

 **"** **Ms. Krest, is there a problem?"**

 **"** **Oh, no. It's nothing."**

Mr. Mayson nodded and turned back to the board. She sighed again and it sounded like she was dying. I was trying not to laugh.

 **"** **Zayla, are you alright?"**

 **"** **Actually, I need to go to the nurse."**

 **"** **Why?"**

 **"** **Because you're boring me to death with stupid lesson that nobody cares about."**

The whole class was laughing now. Zayla and I always gave our English teacher a hard time just like we did our Math teacher. Mr. Mayson was kinda new, but he already knew what kind of students Zayla and I were. He shushed everyone and made his way back to us.

 **"** **I could be getting my vinyl signed by Green Day and taking pictures with them, having the time of my pubescent life. Instead, I'm here with** **you, this monotonous ass lesson and these unruly kids."**

 **"** **I'm sorry you missed out on your plans, but you just got detention, Zayla."**

Her head shot up and I laughed with everyone else at the bewildered expression on her face.

 **"** **For what?"**

 **"** **Profanity."**

 **"** **What kind of America is this when a citizen can't speak freely? Did our forefathers create the Amendments for nothing? Did our beloved soldiers die for nothing, Mr. Mayson?"**

 **"** **That would work in History class, but not in here. Would you like to try again?"**

 **"** **Sure. I used 2 of your goddamn vocabulary words in that sentence."**

 **"** **2 detentions."**

 **"** **What. The. Fuck. Trevor."**

 **"** **Mr. Mayson and now you've got 3."**

The laughing never stopped, but Mr. Mayson wrote up her slips and she snatched them away. She was about to say something, but she stopped herself and crossed her arms. When he went back to the front, she ripped them up and tossed the shreds behind her. She put her head back down and grumbled again. She was so cute. I tapped her and her eye poked out.

 **"** **How many you got now?"**

 **"** **4, you?"**

 **"** **7."**

 **"** **Damn, Dixon."**

 **"** **I ain't goin to 'em and they can't make me."**

 **"** **No talking, Mr. Dixon."**

 **"** **Bite me, Trevor."**

Mr. Mayson sighed, but went back to teaching. He knew not to fuck with me, all the teachers did, but Zayla would get pissed when she'd get more detentions than I did. I looked at her and that 'Are You Serious?' face was on. This was going to be funny.

 **"** **This school is made of bullshit and you're a chauvinist! Another vocabulary word, thank you."** She slammed a fist on her desk and stood. I pulled my hood on and almost cried.

 **"** **That's another detention, Mrs. Krest!"**

 **"** **Fuck that detention! How the hell does he not get one for that?"**

 **"** **Do I need to call your Father?"**

 **"** **I dare you."**

The class was in tears by now, but I knew he wasn't going to do anything.

That was another big No-No the teachers knew about us. Zayla's Pop hated when the school called him and he was just as bat-shit crazy as his daughter. He came up here and made it crystal clear that unless Zayla was in extreme danger or dying, they'd better not fucking call him. It was hilarious watching the principal almost piss himself. Merle answered when they called my house and they lost my home number after that.

The lesson continued, but it was clear that we weren't staying for the whole day. I gave her the look and she nodded. There were 2 doors in all the classrooms, but the school was in the process of sealing one of them. We quietly gathered our stuff and snuck out the second door, but we caught attention of one of our security guards when we got halfway down the hall. All of our school's cops knew us and they knew we were runners.

We dashed through the halls, hand in hand, laughing and taking our usual escape route. We usually lost the patrolman when we ducked into one of the janitor's closets, but we shook him earlier. We went to Michonne, Carol and Skylar's classes, but they didn't want to come with us. We left through the back doors and got in my truck.

We stopped at her house to load up on snacks and drove to the creek when we were stocked. I always kept a blanket in my truck so we could spread it out on the bed and relax. I parked under a tree and we hung out in the shade while munching.

She opened a box of Reese's Pieces and tried to shoot them in my mouth. I almost fell off the truck when I leaned back too far. I didn't get one in her mouth and we laid down to eat the ones scattered around.

 **"** **You are such a negative influence on my life, Dixon."**

 **"** **So are you."**

She scoffed and turned to me, her smile growing.

 **"** **I'm a** ** _very_** **positive influence."**

 **"** **How?"**

 **"** **I got your grades up and I keep you out of fights."**

 **"** **You tell me to fight half of those assholes."**

 **"** **Don't change the subject."**

We laid back down and our shoulders were touching. I was expecting her to do it sooner or later, so I put my arm around her and she put her head on my chest. This is what we usually did when we cut school and I loved spending this kind of time with her.

 **"** **We're like Bonnie and Clyde."**

 **"** **Really?"**

 **"** **Hell yeah. I'm criminally insane, you're just plain fucking crazy and we damn near set the town on fire. It's you and me against the world!"** She sat up.

 **"** **Darling, let's rob a bank."** We laughed and she settled back into me. Me and her against the world…that part was true. As long as we were side by side, everyone else on the planet could croak. The serene sounds of the nature around us made me completely relax. I almost fell asleep, but the slight movement from her made me alert.

 **"** **Why won't you ask me already…"**

 **"** **Ask you what?"**

 **"…** **to be your girlfriend…"**

I felt her fiddling with my vest and my face was on fire.

This wasn't the first time she asked, but it was the most direct way. After what happened that night, you'd think I'd officially claim her as mine and we'd be together. She'd be my first real girlfriend and I knew I wouldn't want anyone else. I doubt anything would change between us because we kinda acted like a couple anyway, but I couldn't do it. She didn't need an asshole like me screwing her life up.

 **"…** **what's wrong with me, Daryl?"**

 **"** **N-nothing."**

She detached from me and leaned on one side. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach and she never kept her stare.

 **"** **Don't you like me?"**

 **"** **Yeah…"**

 **"** **You have a girlfriend already?"**

 **"** **No."**

 **"** **Are you queer?"**

 **"** **Fuck no!** **The hell, Z?"**

 **"** **I was poking fun with that one, but what do you expect, Daryl? Give me one good reason why we shouldn't be together."**

 **"** **You don't need somebody like me."**

 **"** **But I want you…."**

I sighed and put my head on my knees. She was basically begging me to be with her and I wanted to, but I couldn't. If I ever hurt her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. She shouldn't be trying to get a piece of shit like me.

I felt her hands on my knees and pulled my head up. She put hers on mine and cupped my cheeks.

 **"** **Zayla…"**

She kissed me and her fingers went to my short hair. She learned fast from what I showed her. I wanted to stop her, but I didn't. She gave me a minute to breathe and we were both panting. Her cheeks were red and I'm pretty sure mine were too. She playfully kissed all over my face and I laughed a little. God, she made me into a softie.

She started patting me down and I didn't know what she was looking for. After she went through all my pockets, she got off the bed and went to the front. When I got there, she was digging through the glove compartment.

 **"** **What the hell are you lookin' for, Z?"**

She pulled something out and pulled me in. She closed the door and straddled me, a gold condom hanging from her teeth. She put the small packet on the dashboard and grabbed my hands. She put them over her breasts and guided me to squeeze them.

 **"** **Do what you did before."**

She had on a black tank top and her short sleeved, white and black 'Angel' flannel was on the floor. I had a ratty tank on and my vest, but my problem was the tightness in my jeans. I didn't realize I was kneading them until she moaned. She came down to kiss from my neck to my lips and I couldn't say no…not that I was going to. I could never say no to her, so I just froze. She kept kissing me and I tried not to move. Playing dead works with animals, so it'll work on humans, right?

She bit my lip and I pulled her into me, heating our kiss before I knew it. She took the opportunity to go for my belt and I let her. God, how I wanted this, I've dreamed of it, but I couldn't…Merle would kick my ass if he knew about this. He'd probably lock us in here until we did something.

I pushed her hands away and she didn't try to put them back.

 **"** **We are not doing this. Not now, not tomorrow, so stop-"** She smiled at me as she pulled her shirt up and off, exposing a lacy, light blue bra that made her eyes bright. I swallowed a hard ball on nothing and she smiled.

 **"** **You were saying?"**

I tried to speak, but my attention was on her chest. She knew how to get under my skin and if I wasn't careful, she'd get me into having sex with her. Her hands grabbed mine again and she brought them over the fabric, cupping them. My thumb trailed over her soft skin and I felt the goosebumps rise on her, but I pulled them away.

 **"** **You are very stubborn."** She let me up and sat back on her door, arms casually crossed. She smiled at herself.

 **"** **I'll show you mine, if you show me yours first."**

 **"** **You never-"**

 **"** **Twice."**

 **"…** **why do you want this, Zayla? Why with me?"**

 **"** **Because you're my best friend and I know things aren't gonna change if we're together."**

 **"…** **what if I hurt you?"**

 **"** **Well…the first time always hurts and you can't really do anything-"**

 **"** **Not that."**

 **"** **You wouldn't…you never would."**

 **"** **You don't know that."**

 **"** **I know you. You've been trying to airbag my life since we met, cubby. All the guys you've fought, you saved me from getting chewed out from my Dad, all the heat from school…Daryl, we've been together since day 1. It's far from official, but still."**

We sat in silence for a minute, never looking at each other for more than a second. I've never let anyone get as close as she has. People are cruel and feelings make you weak, that's how I was raised. Zayla and I were completely different, but we had everything in common and I adored hanging out with her. Just being around her made everything better and I hated every second when she's away from me. We were partners in crime, I'd run away with her if she asked, I almost beat Merle to death over this girl. I knew what that meant.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't realize she put her shirt back on and was listening to a song on her phone, nodding her head to the beat with closed eyes. She was so beautiful.

 **"…** **I love you…so much."**

 ** _"_** ** _Stop fucking around with my emotions."_**

I laughed and she opened her eyes. She smiled and lifted one of the covers.

 **"** **What?"**

I shook my head. She took the headphones off and grabbed my hand.

 **"** **I won't ask again, I promise…but if you ever want to…I'll say yes, even years from now…even if I'm with someone."**

 **"** **You'd wait years for me?"**

 **"** **However long it takes."**

There was my chance. I could finally have her and I knew how happy she'd be. Hell, I'd be pretty damn happy too. I knew she'd always be in my life because I wasn't going to let her walk out…I needed her.

 **"** **We're flirty friends until one of us says otherwise. Deal?"**

 **"** **Deal."**

I spit in my hand and held it out to her. She looked grossly disturbed, but did the same and we shook hands. Everything was normal again.

I drove her back to school so she could walk with Carol, Michonne and Skylar on their way home. We had a little time before everyone would pile out.

 **"** **Oh, one more thing."**

 **"** **What?"**

She hopped in my lap and her tongue was dancing with mine while she palmed me. She sucked and bit my lip and I was going crazy. I was about to give in and seal our deal, but she got off and the dismissal bell rang.

 **"** **Had to give you a punishment boner for getting riled up. Bye!"**

She got out and didn't look back when I called her. I was going to go insane if I didn't handle this soon, but I chuckled to myself when I heard her faint voice cursing at someone.

That girl was everything I wanted and more. One day, she'll be mine…one day…


	4. Join the Club

**_Join the Club_**

Living with Merle was a thousand times better than living with that drunken asshole. He probably didn't even realize we were gone.

The only downside to living with my brother was having to hear him with the girls he brought home. I usually just sat outside until he finished.

He had a girl in there and it was the weekend, so I didn't have anything to do. I'd leave, but he's got the keys to the truck. I closed my eyes and took a drag. When I opened them, I saw someone coming down the path. Our house was isolated, we didn't have any neighbors and the mail already came, so who the hell could that be?

I was about to go inside to prevent having to talk to them, but I heard her call me and sighed in relief. Zayla.

She stopped a before the steps and crossed her arms, trying to be angry.

 **"** **Do you know how long it took me to find this place?"**

I came off the porch and offered the cigarette to her as an apology. She wasn't too big on smoking these because she was a stoner. I haven't seen her high, but she's been asking if I wanted to do it with her.

She took a hit and smiled.

 **"** **You'd better have some snacks and I wanna watch cartoons."** She started going inside, but I grabbed her arm.

 **"** **Merle's in there with some chick."**

She shuddered.

 **"** **It's time for his call girl to go home."**

She opened the door and didn't take a good look at the place. I'm glad she didn't because it wasn't anything to look at. She looked through every door until she found his bedroom. He had a brunette in there and they were sleeping.

We took turns calling him 'Dad' and got louder. He groaned and they started waking up.

 **"** **Are we gonna go the mall today, Daddy?"** The girl's head shot up when Zayla said that.

 **"** **We need stuff for school, Pop."**

They were wide awake now and the brunette was getting her clothes on as quickly as possible.

 **"** **Are you our new Mom?"** The girl almost dropped dead and was out of the house before I knew it. Merle went back to sleep and Zayla took her shoes off. She climbed on his bed and started jumping. I got up there with her and we were calling him while we jumped.

 **"** **THE FUCK DO Y'ALL WANT?!"** We stopped jumping and smiled at him.

 **"** **We're bored."**

 **"** **Take us somewhere."**

He pulled a pillow over his head and I heard him muttering curses. We started screaming and jumping again. I think we were discouraging him from ever wanting to have kids.

He groaned again and put some pants on. Every time he stopped getting dressed, we started screaming. He had vest and shoes on with his shirt was tucked into his pants. He threw us over his shoulders and put us in the truck.

 **"** **Works on Dad every time."** Zayla whispered and we fist bumped. We didn't bug him on the drive and I was surprised that was all it took to get something from him.

We pulled into a parking lot and I saw all the motorcycles lined up. Merle warned us not to touch them before we went in. The inside of the place looked like a bar and a hangout. There were gruff men with vests everywhere and they were doing all kinds of things. I'm pretty sure my face matched Zayla's amazed one.

He led us to the bar and some of the men talked to him on the way. Zayla and I were trying to take everything in and we bumped into each other almost every 2 seconds. When we sat on the stools, Merle was talking to another man and the bartender came to us with a cocky smile.

 **"** **What'll it be?"**

 **"** **Shot of Jack."**

 **"** **And a dry martini."**

The bartender laughed at us, but I had to wonder if he really would make us the drinks. He started making something, but I couldn't see. He came back with a green drink for Zayla and the rim was coated in sugar. I had something in a shot glass.

I drank mine and it was…apple juice? Zayla sipped at hers and we switched. Hers was some kind of lime juice. Merle asked for a beer and watched us drink.

 **"** **Listen up. This ain't no damn playground. Don't fuck with nobody in here and don't take nothin' from 'em either, 'specially you girlie. Stay in my eyeshot and stay together. Got it?"**

We nodded and went to see what was interesting. We watched a group of men shoot dice and one of them saw us. He called us over and we cautiously joined them. Zayla stayed in back of me as they played and we were trying to figure out how this worked. I went in her pocket and felt for her knife before I let her get closer. When things seemed okay, we were cheering and taunting with them.

 **"** **Let the lady roll for me."** One of the men gave Zayla the dice.

 **"** **You trust a kid with yer money?"**

 **"** **That's Lady Luck right there. She's gonna send ya' home broke."**

The others laughed and Zayla shook the dice. Everyone got quiet when she rolled. It was a 9. Everyone was still quiet, but the guy she rolled for was laughing his ass off.

 **"** **Told ya'! Little miss just made me some money!"**

We stayed and the men wanted us to roll for them because we always got the right number. We both walked away with $50 bucks and that was the easiest money I've ever made.

We saw some guys playing darts and we were heading over there. Merle had his eyes on us, but he was talking to someone else. The men let us in on a few rounds and we sat down with them when we were finished. Joey, Tim, Ray and Slim were the guys we sat with and they were all some hard asses. They're either about to go to jail or just got out. I think these guys were with us when we led the riot.

 **"** **How old are y'all anyway?"**

 **"** **How old do we look?"** They laughed at Zayla's sassy tone.

 **"** **Just a couple kids, jailbait if I ever seen it."**

 **"** **Not the boy. If he's as much a Dixon as his brother, he'll have a whole block reserved for 'em."**

 **"** **She could handle herself in the pen. I saw her kick Jeb's ass, almost tore the fucker's arm off."**

They laughed again. These guys were okay. I don't know why Merle wanted us to be so cautious around them. Some of them did look like fucking creeps, but we didn't go near them.

Zayla was talking to Joey since he had the most tattoos and he gave her a card to the parlor he goes to while I was arm wrestling with Slim. I bet my $50 bucks and he put up $60. Somehow, I won and our table cheered for me. Zayla's birthday wasn't for a few months, but I could use this to get her something. For my last birthday, she threw me a little party. It was just us, but she got me a gift and made me a cake.

We were about to go to the pool table when another man came to our table. He said something to Ray and they all got up to go outside.

 **"** **C'mon lil' Dixons. Gonna show ya' somethin'."**

We followed Tim into the parking lot and to the bikes we saw earlier. The rest of the guys were surrounding one, but I heard someone getting beaten. Tim was in front of us to block the view, but I'm pretty sure we knew what was going on. Ray and Slim pushed the guy and he ran off looking like he just got mugged.

They had their bikes next to each other and were leaning on them or on the wall while they talked about them. Joey let Zayla sit on his blue one and I was inspecting Slim's red one.

 **"** **You know how ta' ride, girl?"**

 **"** **No."**

 **"** **What about you?"**

 **"** **A little."**

Slim tossed me his keys and the others waited for me to do something. Merle was still teaching me how to ride and I needed more practice, but I knew how to start the damn thing.

I started it and they seemed impressed. I knew how to rev it and Zayla laughed when I did. I think she took a picture of me, but I wasn't sure. Joey started his bike and so did the others.

 **"** **Let's ride, boys!"**

They all hooted and we were dashing down the street. The people on the streets watched us as we rolled by and it felt like we were celebrities or something. They stayed in formation and Slim stayed close to Joey so I could keep my eye on Zayla. She looked like she was having fun and I was too.

The sun was low when Slim said we were heading back and we were across town. Zayla and I usually stayed away from this part because this is where the police station was. If these guys were like Merle, a cop was the last thing they needed to see. We were at a red light when we saw a squad car. They rolled the window down and stared at me and Slim with questioning looks. I looked at Zayla and she had a squad car on her side too with the cops giving them the same look.

 **"** **I ain't goin' back ta' prison!"**

Slim ran the light and so did the others.

 **"** **Split and regroup!"**

 **"** **Get them kids somewhere safe!"**

 **"** **Don't go back to the club!"**

 **"** **Don't come back if ya' can't shake 'em."**

They all went in different directions and the cars followed Joey and Ray. Slim kept telling me that they'd be okay, but I was freaking out. If Zayla got arrested what the hell was I supposed to do?! Her Pop would have them out of the state by tomorrow!

Slim kept riding and changing is direction to make sure we didn't have a tail. The moon was rising when he finally started going back to the Club. We weren't the last to arrive and the others were waiting for us.

 **"** **Where's Zayla?"**

 **"** **Still with Joey."**

 **"** **He's got some heat on 'em so those pigs are gonna be on his ass."**

 **"** **He ain't get caught yet."**

 **"** **He's not gonna get caught, not with that kid."**

For a bunch of mean bikers, they looked concerned. The last thing they probably wanted was for a kid to get in trouble because of them and they seemed to like me and Zayla.

When we heard the whooping, they cheered with it and I saw Joey coming down the street. When Zayla poked her head from in back of him, I sighed in relief. They pulled in and I pulled her off with a hug.

 **"** **Kid saved my ass."**

 **"** **What's she do?"**

 **"** **She slashed those cop's tires! She almost fucked their tank, but we ain't have no sugar."**

 **"** **Or sawdust."** Zayla added and they laughed. I don't know why I was worried, she could take care of herself, but I couldn't help it.

The guys tussled our hair and gave us pats. They put us on their shoulders as we went back into the club and told everyone we were the newest members. We sat at the bar and the bartender made us drinks from earlier.

 **"** **Hey."** I nudged Zayla.

 **"** **Were you okay out there?"**

 **"** **Yeah, just fine. Were you worried about me?"**

 **"** **No."** I was lying and her smile made my face red. Joey came between us and slung his arms around us.

 **"** **Y'all are so cute together."** They awed and it didn't make anything better, but Zayla was blushing too.

I finally saw Merle again and I knew it was time for us to get going. It wasn't really late, but we should get home. We said our goodbyes and our little crew said we could come back anytime. As soon as we got outside, I got a smack on the back of my head.

 **"** **Ow! The fuck, Merle?!"**

Zayla laughed and she got one too. She held her head like I did and had the slightly angry puppy dog face on.

 **"** **What did I do?"**

 **"** **Didn't I tell ya' ta' stay in my eyeshot?! Y'all was across town with the fuzz followin' ya'!"**

 **"** **That was so awesome!"**

 **"** **Did you see how the cops looked when we ran the light?"**

Zayla and I started naming the fun stuff we did and Merle hit us again.

 **"** **Cut it out!"**

 **"** **I'm gonna get brain damage!"**

 **"** **Get yer bad asses in the damn truck!"**

Every time we tried to say something to him, Merle slapped us in the head and we got sick of it so we went silent. We sat on the bed, but we still whispered. Merle stopped near Zayla's house and I helped her off the bed. I saw her Dad's car in the driveway and a few of the lights were on inside.

 **"** **Does he know you're out?"**

 **"** **He thinks I'm practicing. You wanna-"**

 **"** **He ain't stayin', girlie."**

Merle cut her off. I wasn't living with my Pop anymore, so I don't think I'd need to sleep over, but I'd probably come over when Merle had one of his 'friends' in the house.

Zayla went to him and gave him a hug. He was trying to stay mad, but he couldn't and hugged her back. I walked her to her window and I could hear the music playing from the inside. Jinx popped up and pawed at me. She gave me a long hug and I almost kissed her, but I stopped myself and settled for kissing her head.

 **"** **Come over tomorrow?"**

 **"** **It's a date."**

She smiled and opened the window. She didn't need help, but I gave her a boost and she waved before I left. I already missed her when I got back in the truck. Merle was muttering to himself the whole drive.

 **"** **Y'all are exactly why I ain't got no kids."**

I laughed to myself. My brother wasn't parent material, but he was the closest thing I had to a Father figure.

From how he was acting today, he might be a good Dad.

 ** _(I'm in the process of writting 2 new stories! I think they'll be good ones, so look to the future! :3)_**


	5. Between You and Me

**"** **Just like I showed you, ease into- get back in your lane!"**

 **"** **I thought they both were my lane."**

 **"** **Stay on this side and- damn it, girl!"**

 **"** **We had the light!"**

 **"** **It was red!"**

 **"** **I saw green!"**

 **"** **Where are you go- get back on the street!"**

 **"** **They're driving too slow!"**

 **"** **ZAYLA!"**

She was having a nice time trying to give me a heart attack!

Zayla was 'driving' and I was trying to let her do it on her own, but she didn't want to drive by the rules. She had road rage too. I've seen how perfectly she drives in videogames, but it was the exact opposite in reality. Right now, she was trying to 'get to the front of the line' by driving in the bike lane and partially on the sidewalk. I didn't have to worry about civilians, but she was going to get us killed.

 **"GET OUT OF THE WAY! MOVE!"** She blared the horn and yelled out the window. The blue car that was in front of us moved to our side and she flipped them off. She's done that to 4 cars already.

 **"Do I have to stop at the sign if there's no cars?"**

 **"Yes."**

 **"No? Okay!"**

 **"ZAYLA!"** She sped passed the sign before another truck could drive and they exchanged some nasty words. She actually caught the red light and pulled to a calm stop.

 **"That's it. You're done."**

 **"I can't learn without practice."**

 **"You got more than enough practice today."**

 **"5 more minutes? Please, cubby."**

She usually gets me when she calls me that, but it didn't work today. I slid under her and put my hands over hers on the wheel. I worked the pedals, but she thought she was doing it.

We got to our usual store in one piece, but she was still trying to drive with the engine off. I grabbed a cart and she got in, just like always. We almost filled the cart and since this was a discount store, our haul wouldn't cost much. I got a pack of cigarettes before we left and she took them from me when we got back in.

 **"You only get one for the day."**

 **"The hell is that gonna do?"**

 **"Oh, I don't know maybe expand the length of your life."**

She gave me one and I put it behind my ear. We drove back to my house like we did when we drove to the store and since Merle was out, I wanted her to come in. I liked hanging out at Zayla's house rather than mine because it actually felt like a home rather than just somewhere to sleep, but she didn't seem to mind our place.

We went to my room and she bounced on the bed as I took my shoes off. I brought the TV from the living room in here and she was flipping though the channels to find us something to watch. I had our snacks and poured them on the bed. I opened one of the sodas and it sprayed all over me.

 **"I'm gonna need another cigarette, other one got wet."**

 **"You're horrible, Daryl."** She smiled and gave me another one. I went into the bathroom to get rid of this sticky feeling and added the first fag to the one she just gave me. I got myself covered in soda for a damn cigarette. I really was horrible.

I cleaned myself off and went back in my room. Zayla was still getting us something to watching and I helped her the clear signal. Knowing her, she found some action movie or cartoons, but I didn't mind either one as long as I was with her. My first guess was right, but I didn't know the name of the movie because it was a few minutes in. Zayla was on her stomach on the floor, completely glued to the screen, as I got the blanket off my bed for us to lie on.

 **"Get up."** She mumbled something and shooed me away when I nudged her leg.

I smiled to myself and pulled her back so I could spread the blanket, but she was still focused on the damn screen. I put her on the blanket and gave her a pillow. I started watching and I was just as intrigued. By the time the credits were rolling, we managed to get through half our stuff and I had my arm over her. She was leaning on me as we waited for the sequel.

Zayla groaned, animatedly, as she stretched and rolled on her back. She kept stretching and making those weird noises until I laughed at her. She told me she likes when I laugh. She was the only person I did it for. She sat up and her phone chimed.

 **"Carol invited us to her birthday party."**

 **"Did she invite me or did you?"**

 **"The text says Daryl and Zayla. You wanna go?"**

I didn't know Carol even knew I existed. She, Michonne and Skylar were Zayla's primary friends and they've had to seen me with her at some point, but I've never hung out with them. Skylar's the only one I've talked to, but I wouldn't call him my friend. It was nice that she invited me though...

 **"It's at her house?"**

 **"Yeah.** **She's not gonna want a gift, but we can go 50/50 on one."**

 **"Maybe."**

 **"...I didn't ask her to invite you, Daryl."** I turned my head to her and she was kinda serious.

 **"** **I tell** **Michonne and Carol** **about you all the and they've been dying to meet you. They** **actually like you and they don't even know you."**

I know Zayla's asked them to invite me to their outings before and I thought she did it this time too. I wasn't anything special, just another redneck teen. I was annoying, too quiet with a big mouth, quick-tempered and not much company. Who'd be interested in having someone like me as their friend? I don't even know why Zayla was my friend or why they wanted to be.

I was rendered silent and Zayla took the hint that I wasn't going to say anything about it. That was another reason why I didn't know why Carol and Michonne wanted to be friends with me. I know Zayla had to learn how to be around me and what to do at certain times, but they didn't. They'd probably think I'm weird if they didn't already.

 **"Just think about it, okay?"** Her tone was light and I nodded. Serious moment over and just in time too. The sequel was about to come on.

All the questions I had from the first movie were answered in this one and we were about to find out who the villain was, when the box started to static. We both groaned and I got up to try and get the picture back.

 **"Get it, Daryl! We're gonna miss it!"**

 **"I'm trying, girl."** She laughed at me and I heard the audio come back.

 **"Sound, no picture."** I tuned it again.

 **"Picture, no sound."** I hated this fucking thing. I had to hunch over the front to tamper with the back and I waited for her to tell me something.

 **"What's on it now?"** No answer. I hit the box and everything came on, but it was on a different channel. I held the remote out to her, but she didn't take it. She looked like she just saw a puppy die.

 **"S'matter?"**

Her face scrunched like she was about to...cry. That wasn't something I was used to, epically with her. I sat next to her and I saw the tears in her eyes as she bit her lip to try and stop it from quivering.

 **"...what happened?"**

 **"What?"**

 **"...why didn't you tell me?"**

I was really confused now. What the hell was she talking about? I never knew what to do when people cry, so I didn't do anything and that seemed to make everything worse because the tears started falling. I had a mixed feeling of pain and anger. I wanted to know why she was so sad and I wanted to fucking kill whatever made her cry. Zayla even said it herself, nothing could make her cry easily. After her Ma died, she said there was nothing that could compare to making her as sad.

 **"If it means that much, I'll go to Carol's party with you, alright? Just don't cry."**

 **"Forget about the party!"** She snapped.

 **"We're supposed to be friends** **, Daryl** **! You should be able to tell me about stuff like this!"**

 **"Stuff like what?"**

 **"Did Merle do it?"**

 **"Zayla, what the hell are you talking about? You sound crazy."**

 **"...your back..."** A string of tears fell from her eyes and down her cheeks. How did she know about them? She's never seen them, I didn't let her.

I scratched the back of my neck and that's when I wanted to drop dead. I could feel my bare skin and hanging on the doorknob was the shirt I didn't put on when I came out of the bathroom. How could I forget? I always dropped my guard around her and this proved it.

We sat in silence again. I almost went to put my shirt on, but there was no point now. She already knew and she'd expect an explanation. I could tell her that I didn't want to talk about it, but I knew she wouldn't leave it at that. I got hurt and she wanted to know why. That was one of the relationship type things in our friendship. We cared about each other too much to let scars go unnoticed or without reason.

My heart felt like it was going to stop when I looked at her. She stopped crying, but she still looked sad. I felt like anything I'd say would make her cry again.

 **"...it wasn't Merle...he stopped it..."** I tore my eyes from her when she looked at me. I could feel her eyes on me and I looked at her when she moved. Her face had a look of determination on it as she came to me.

 **"That's all I need to know."** She barely whispered. I thought she was leaving, but I felt her hand on my shoulder. She was looking at them and each scar seemed to heat with insecurity. I didn't want her to see them.

 **"Zayla, don't-"** This would be the first time I've gotten mad at her, but it faded when I felt her lips on my back. **  
**

Over on, then another and continuing, her kisses soothed me. I wanted to cry this time. Everything was breaking down. I wasn't that hard ass kid anymore, I wasn't her overprotective friend. I was a vulnerable kid with my heart on my sleeve. All my walls crumbled to nothing.

Zayla didn't say anything when my shoulders started trembling and my vision blurred with weak tears. In this moment, I...was weak... Her lips left my skin and she hugged me from behind, her head resting on my back. I was quick to turn around in her embrace and bury my head in her chest. She still didn't say anything, no questions, no pity. She just wrapped her arms around me, one hand stroking my head and I tightened my grip around her.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I knew she was my source of comfort. I got control of myself a while ago, but I didn't move from her. I didn't want to. For once in my hard life, I had someone to lean on. I wasn't about to tell her everything that happened and I don't think she wanted me to. She said she heard enough.

 **"Daryl, you okay?"** Her voice was soft and she stroked my cheek. I didn't say anything because I felt like my voice would quiver and I didn't want her to hear it. I nuzzled into her a little and I guess she took that as my answer.

I felt her move a bit before her lips on on my cheek and I was done denying it. Before she pulled away, I sat up and caught her lips with mine. It was just like it was when we were at the creek and I was going to force myself to be to take things slow with her. When she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, I got her under me and my hands were under her shirt to pull it off.

I cherished every inch of her body with kisses. I surprised myself with how gentle I was, but the look on her face as she had her first experience of extreme pleasure was well worth it. We were in my bed now, the covers over us and she was lying on my chest. I knew she went to sleep, but she kissed my chin. I was tracing patterns on her back and burning every second of what we did into my memory.

 **"...you still wanna be with me?"**

 **"Yes."**

 **"...I ain't no good at this...relationships...never really had one."**

 **"It's okay, nobody's perfect."**

 _You're perfect. You mean everything to me and I love you with all I've got._

I didn't tell her that, so I just kissed her head. We stayed close for as long as we could. She as going to visit family this weekend, so she had to go, but she wouldn't have left if she didn't have to. I didn't want her to either. I hugged Zayla for a long time when I walked her home.

I knew I wouldn't hurt her. She trusted me with everything now. I wasn't going to fuck this up.


	6. Broken Home, Lovely Bones

**_(Zayla's POV)_**

Daryl went to Carol's party with me and I think he had a good time.

We made her a little gift bag of CD's and perfume and she loved it. It wasn't a large crowd for her backyard bash and I caught Daryl talking to Michonne a few times. I kept asking if he was comfortable every 5 minutes, but he didn't seem to be annoyed by it and he said he was fine every time. He did leave a little early, but he said there was something going on with his brother. That was a few weeks ago and I've been seeing him less ever since.

Daryl's been saying he wanted to take me on a proper date, but we've haven't been talking as much either. I told myself that he was just nervous about us being together, but I couldn't convince myself. Cheating was totally out of the question. Dad was gone for the weekend, so I was going to find out what was going on with Daryl today.

Daryl didn't answer when I called, so my visit unannounced. I saw another truck parked in front of their house. When I walked on the porch, I heard the yelling and fighting. The door swung open with Merle hurling out with another man. They were both bleeding, but still attacking each other. As much as I knew not to interfere, I sneakily took the gun from Merle's pants. They could fight all they wanted and I wouldn't care for the reason, but I didn't want to see someone get killed. I knew Merle would put a man to his death if provoked.

The man slammed Merle into the house, but Merle charged and they went over the railing. I looked over the rail and they were still battling each other in the dirt. I swear I knew who that man was, but I couldn't recognize him and Merle's fist going into face every 2 seconds wasn't helping. He was a gruff man, but he looked like he was sick.

 **"GET HER IN THE HOUSE!"** Merle yelled in my direction, but his eyes weren't on me. I followed them to...Daryl. He had a fading black eye, his lip looking to had just stopped bleeding and his shirt was ripped out of shape, threatening to fall off his body.

 **"Why is Merle fighting?** **"**

 **"Just come inside."**

 **"What's going on, Daryl?"**

 **"Go in the fucking house!"**

I was as stubborn as he was. I didn't move and he dragged me in. I pulled from his grip and tried not to let my eyes water at the sight of him. He looked like a scared animal that just got beaten. He moved away from me when I tried to see his face and wiped the blood off his lip with his shirt.

 **"Daryl, what the hell is going on? Who's that man?"**

 **"Merle's takin' care of it. Don't worry about it."**

 **"You look like someone just beat the shit out of you, Merle's about to kill that man and you don't want me to worry about it?!"**

 **"I said it's nothing! Just leave it alone!"**

Before I could say something, we heard the heavy footsteps coming from the door and he pulled me away before it was kicked in by the other man. He came for us, but Merle tackled him and Daryl was pulling me out of the way whenever they got close. They smashed into the TV, flipped the couch, broke the tattered recliner and split the wooden table in half.

 **"Zayla, go home, please!"**

 **"I'm not going anywhere!"**

 **"I'll come see you later, just get outta here!"**

 **"I'm not leaving you, Daryl!"**

The man got on his feet, coming for us again and Daryl pulled me away before Merle got to him. The man made Merle go down with a hard punch and his hand clamped down on the back of Daryl's neck, ripping his hand from mine. I helped Merle get up and he stumbled after them.

 **"Get off me!"**

 **"Get in the car, boy!"**

 **"Fuck you!"**

The man punched Daryl and pushed him to the red truck, but Merle had him before he got to the door. He put Daryl and I in back of him and he was breathing like a wild dog, a growl escaping every time he exhaled.

 **"He's comin' with me!** **"**

 **"Over my dead fuckin' body!"**

 **"You ain't got custody of him!"**

 **"Life fuck I don't!** **Ain't like ya' ever did shit for him!** **He's more of my son than yours!"**

Son...I remembered the man now. Will Dixon. The memory of day he came out of his house yelling and screaming at me replayed in my mind and I understood it all. Why Daryl sleeping over my house so much, why they moved...his scars. Merle saved him from everything.

 **"Zayla!"** Daryl's voice brought me back to the present and Will was coming my way. I thought he was going to hit me, but he slugged me out of his way and I fell into Merle. He was getting up again, but I heard the blows landing. **  
**

Daryl was fighting back now, but Will was stronger and he punched him again, making him fall. I got up and was in back of Will and his loaded fist, but he froze when I put the weapon to his back.

 **"G-get away from him!"** His hands went up as he slowly turned to face me and my hands were shaking the gun, but my eyes were hard. The gun was aimed on his chest now and I could see Daryl trying to stand. Dad's showed me some of the guns he had from the military, but he never taught me to use one and this was nothing like the video games I played.

 **"She's a little too young for ya' don't ya' think, Merle?"** I didn't hear him, but I didn't dare take my eyes off this monster.

 **"Yer a ballsy little bitch, but you ain't gonna do shit."** He put his hands down and I tried to stop my hands from trembling. He started getting closer and I pulled the little trigger back on the pistol, the sound making me flinch with him.

A fist went to the Will's face and he went down, my aim following his body. I was frozen, my hands still shaky and my heart thumping a million beats a second. He hurt Daryl in a way that could never be forgiven and for that, he deserved to die. I couldn't do it, but I knew nothing would stop me. If I didn't take this from Merle, Will would probably be dead. I almost wished I could go back in time to prevent myself from taking it.

 **"Zayla, listen to me. Look at me, girl."** My eyes flicked to Merle's bloodied face, but went back to the piece of shit on the ground.

 **"I know you're mad, but you don't need ta' do this. I'll handle it, just gimme the gun."** His hand went over it and it made me pull the trigger, the sound making me drop it in his hand.

I was gasping like someone was chasing me and I thought I killed a man, but the bullet was between his legs. A few meters up and he'd have lost one of his balls. Merle had the gun aimed perfectly on Will's head and he actually looked scared as he looked up at his eldest son. Merle looked like he wanted to shoot, but I saw him fighting it.

 **"Ain't gonna hesitate next time. Get the fuck off my property an' don't let me see you again."** Will scrambled to his feet and Merle kicked him before he got up to drive away.

A hand on my shoulder made me flinch, but when I saw Daryl, I started to calm down. He pulled me into a hug and Merle brought us into the house with Daryl's arm over my shoulder. We flipped the couch back over and plopped on it, all of us drained. For a long time, we just sat in complete silence. Daryl still had his arm over me and I was laying on him, listening to his heartbeat.

This was only my second encounter with Will and I hoped it was my last. How could he have enured that for years? When Merle was away, did he fight back or did he run and hide? I've seen Merle shirtless and his back was wasn't scarred, but I couldn't imagine what Will did to him when he was a kid. That's what ate me up the most. Daryl and Merle were kids when they were dealing with this. I couldn't imagine one day where their house was a happy home. Will's abuse was why Daryl was the way he is now, so quiet and observant. If hatred could kill, Will would be dead right now.

 **"...you guys gotta kit?"** I mumbled.

 **"Bathroom."** Merle sounded tired. It took me a minute to want to move and Daryl was making it harder from how secured I was in his arms. I finally got up and headed to the bathroom, Daryl's hand attached to mine until he couldn't hold on anymore.

I decided to clean Merle up first and he instructed me on what to do when I didn't know how to continue. He didn't flinch through the whole thing. He had a few small bandages on his face and I had to wrap both his hands. He did Daryl and I was thankful he did because I couldn't bare to watch. Merle pointed out the little scrape on my cheek and it must have come from the ring Will had on. He put one of the small band-aids on it and even kissed it in an attempt to get me to smile, but I didn't.

Merle started putting everything back in the box and Daryl had me wrapped in his arms again.

 **"Y'all okay?"**

 **"...yeah."**

 **"...fine."**

Merle began to start a sentence, but he shot it down before any words could come out. He had a Father's concern all over his face as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

 **"I'm gonna go lie down. Wake me up if y'all need me."** Daryl's lock on me didn't loosen. Merle kept looking back at us as he went to put the kit away and he didn't close the door when he went to his room.

Daryl and I stayed on the couch for a minute. I saw his clenched fist and uncurled it to intertwine our fingers. A few more minutes passed and he moved to get up, leading me to his room. I peeked in on Merle and heard his snoring as he slept. Daryl pulled the blanket over him as I got his head under a pillow, kissing his cheek before we left.

I didn't have a curfew to be back home and I didn't want to go. I knew Daryl wouldn't let me anyway and Merle would wake up as soon as someone touched the doorknob. I took off my shoes and pants, Daryl doing the same before we got in his bed. He laid me on him and we went to sleep.

It was night when I woke up and Daryl's new TV was on. It was sitting on his new dresser and I sat up, crawling off him so he could stretch.

 **"...are you-"**

 **"I'm not gonna leave you and we don't have to talk about anything."**

 **"Are you okay?"** He sounded like he needed to go back to sleep, but I knew he wasn't going to.

 **"I'm fine. Are you alright?"**

 **"Ain't nothin'."**

Daryl sat up and leaned on the wall with me, wrapping the blanket around us. I felt him loosen up as I giggled at the cartoons on the screen. After about a half hour, someone knocked on the door and we heard Merle answer it. He came in with a pizza box and one of the slices was in his mouth. The gloomy and tensed mood left as we ate and I got Daryl talking about random things.

Daryl wanted me to spend the night, but I didn't think that was a good idea because I knew we wouldn't be getting much sleep. Merle drove me home and I think he stayed for a few minutes after I got in. I realized a few things today: Will was a sorry excuse for a Father and I hoped Merle would skin his ass alive,Daryl is one of the strongest people I've ever met and Merle was the big brother I never had.

I had a family, one that was broken and rough around the edges, but full of love.


	7. That Fear Fever

**_(Zayla's POV)_**

It's Halloween night and I had my Batman pillowcase ready to be filled with candy! I knew I was too old for this, but the people around town always gave out candy to the teenagers. I was going to take the camcorder so we could relive this night.

Dad helped out with my makeup and he was throwing a little costume party at the house. He was dressed as Ryu from Street Fighter. Dad had me set on my way with a flashlight and some candy in my pillowcase as a head start. My rat pack was going to meet a little ways from Daryl's house, but I was taking the school route to gather them.

First stop, Carol. I was expecting her to be a fluffy panda or maybe a princess. I knew she'd be something cute. When she opened the door, I almost screamed. Carol had on a choppy ginger wig and she was dressed as a female Chucky doll. She had the stripped shirt, the jumper, red knee high socks and red Chucks. She had a knife, blood smears on her face and that deranged smirk wasn't making anything better!

 **"Hi, I'm Carol. Wanna play?"** She even had the creepy doll voice down.

 **"Dude, you're really freaking me out."**

Carol laughed and grabbed a pink sack before coming out. I think her parents, along with the rest of my friends', were going to my house for Dad's party. We got candy from 2 houses before getting to Michonne's. I let Carol knock and took a few steps back because I didn't know what to expect from her. The door opened to reveal an Egyptian Goddess.

Michonne was dressed as the Egyptian ruler, Cleopatra. Her gold and black makeup was Egyptian inspired and she had a long white dress with golden veils on her arms as she posed for us.

 **"Look at our Nubian Queen!"**

 **"All hail Pharaoh Michonne."** We bowed to Michonne and she laughed at us. She had a tie-dye pillow case.

We were on route to Skylar's, but an Egyptian King saw Michonne when we came from our 3rd house and he asked her to be his Queen. He proposed with a red RingPop. The kid was around 11, but he was adorable and Michonne took a few pictures with him. His parents gave her some candy and we got to Skylar's apartment.

The whole complex was decorated for the night, but we were trying to hide from the killer clown. He looked like It and he was chasing some of the people around. A boy's howl brought our attention to Skylar. He was shirtless with claw rips on his chest. He had grey furry hands and feet along with a pointy-eared headband. He turned around and he had a tail coming from a hole in his pants while his red pillowcase was tied to one of his belt loops.

He howled every time we left a house that gave us candy and everyone waited at the corner as I went down the dirt path to Daryl's house. I almost mistook Merle for my Dad because he was decked out in his army gear. From the looks of the people inside of the house, he was having a little party too, but the costumes were for adults only.

 **"Hey, girlie. Daryl's havin' a little trouble with his getup."**

 **"I ain't wearing no makeup!"** I heard Daryl yell from inside and I gave Merle my candy bag.

 **"Yer in for it now bro! She's comin' for ya'!"**

It took 10 minutes and a few kisses, but I got Daryl into his costume. He grabbed a green pillowcase and I was dragging him to our friends.

 **"BatBrain beware 'cause the baddest couple to ever rule Gotham City is here!"** I slung my stripped baseball bat over my shoulder and did my best impression of Harley Quinn's shrill voice.

My costume was from the Arkham City videogame. I colored the ends of my hair black and had it up in pigtails. Daryl was the famous Joker without the white face, but he did put a dark green rinse in his hair. Daryl posed next to me and they took a few pictures of us. He was recording, but I felt him tap the bat as we started walking.

 **"That's plastic, right?"**

 **"Sure, Puddin'."**

He smirked at me and Skylar rang the bell to the next house. We kept going to houses until we had a heavy haul. We hit the jackpot when we got to the houses with the old people and the fire station. There was a gas station close to the Savage Sons hangout and we went in when we saw the 'Candy for Costumes' sign.

 **"Hey, it's the Lil' Dixons."** Slim came out after us with Ray. They were dressed as pirates and bought us all a bag of candy. They were telling us some ghost story about a old house as they loaded their bags in a car with 'Princesses' inside.

 **"The old Blake house was home to Phillip Blake, his wife and daughter, Penny. The tales say he was a sadist, shoved his wife in a trunk just to hear her bones crack. Locked her in it, then threw it down the basement where she died a slow death."**

 **"I heard he skinned his daughter alive, chopped her hair off, drowned her and used her flesh to make a new one out of a mannequin."**

We all had a look of pure amazement on our faces. How have I never heard about that house? Slim and Ray tried to act like they didn't just tell us the best ghost story ever as we flocked around them and asked all kinds of questions.

 **"Alright, alright. God, this is why I don't have any kids."** Slim laughed.

 **"The house is pass Hogan road. Go under the bridge and stay on the dirt path 'till ya' see a big clearin', house is right in the middle."**

 **"Why'd you tell them that? Now they're gonna go lookin' for it."**

 **"Nah, they're good kids. Ain't that right?"**

We all smiled and nodded. Slim and Ray waved goodbye to us and drove off. Everyone was already running away when I turned around. Daryl knew this town like the back of his hand and he led us in the right direction.

We all stared at the abandoned and torn up house from behind the chain fence. We all had flashlights and had them on different spots of the house.

 **"Guys...where's Skylar?"** Carol's un-creepy voice made us notice that Skylar was actually missing.

 **"Oh, haha. Biker dude tells us a ghost story on Halloween and now one of us is missing. Nice prank, Carol."** Michonne nudged Carol, but she didn't look like she was joking. A rustling from the bushes behind us made us all turn to face it.

 **"It's probably a just a 'coon."**

 **"What if it's a bear?"**

 **"Or Philip!"**

 **"Only one way to find out."**

 **"Zayla-"**

 **"I'm Harley, Mista J. BANZAI!"**

I charged for the shrub and almost knocked Skylar unconscious. We emerged from the leaves and Carol sighed in relief as she hugged Skylar.

 **"Why'd you sneak away from us like that?"**

 **"When nature calls, you answer. So, we going in there to trade our haul or what?"**

 **"We gotta find a way in first."**

 **"Daryl already did."**

They all looked to where I was pointing as Daryl found a rip in the gate and motioned for us to come in. His costume got a little torn, but it made it look better. We stood on the creaking porch and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. I was on the side and I swung my bat into the window. I went to climb through, but Daryl pulled me out, so he could get in.

He opened the door a few seconds later and we could barely see anything from the moonlight. I always had a lighter and there were candles leftover from someone who obviously broke in here before. This place wasn't too bad. We uncovered some of the furniture until we found a surprisingly clean sofa and loveseat, but we were on the floor to trade goodies.

 **"Who gives out peanuts on Halloween?"**

 **"Oh, are they honey-roasted?"**

 **"They're all yours, Sky."**

 **"I've got a baggie of candy corn up for grabs if someone has gummi bears."**

 **"I hate these things, here."**

 **"I've got a box of...Buncha' Crunch?"**

 **"GIMMIE!"**

Michonne laughed as she tossed the box to me, but Daryl caught it. We both had a thing for chocolate and I was prepared to fight to the death for that candy!

Daryl made me chase him around our circle until he held the box up out of my reach. Damn, his height! He started eating them and I climbed up him like a Kola to get the box. We kept trading candy and we all chucked the candied apples just to be safe.

Skylar had a book tucked away in his bag and it was _Grimm's Fairytales._ Some of the stories were okay, but the others were creepy as hell and the creaking of this old house really set the scene. Skylar was just finishing a chapter when we heard a pounding on the door.

 **"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"** A gruff voice yelled.

 **"I'LL SKIN ALL OF YOU!"** That voice came from inside! It was really close and we heard footsteps running from the darkness to us.

 **"IT'S PHILIP!"**

 **"HE"S GONNA KILL US!"**

 **"I DON'T WANNA GET STUFFED IN A TRUNK!"**

All the girls and Skylar, screamed as the figures jumped out, but we stopped when they started laughing. Demetri and Lucas dressed a gladiator and Thor. They had tears in their eyes even with all the girls hitting and scolding them for scaring us half to death!

 **"You should've seen your face, 'Chonne. I thought you were gonna pee yourself."**

 **"Demetri, that wasn't funny!"**

Michonne crossed her arms and turned her back on him. Demetri pouted and hugged her, saying sorry. Carol got scooped up with a scream and Tony was laughing at her. He was dressed as Popeye. They brought their candy haul and we traded some more as Skylar read more chapters.

 **"You think Philip really took the skin off his daughter?"** Lucas asked.

 **"What if she's upstairs?"**

 **"What about his wife?"**

 **"She's trapped in that chest in the basement, right?"**

 **"What if he has more victims around the house?"**

 **"What if he's still in here?"**

We all looked at each other before we scrambled to our feet to go either upstairs or in the basement, but Carol called us all back.

 **"Everyone get in pairs, phones stays on and meet back here by 11."**

 **"Yes, Mom."** We all teased.

This was a pretty big house and we probably wouldn't even get though half of it before Carol's curfew. Everyone split off with their partner and headed to a different part of the house. I wanted to see if that trunk really had a body in it and I was leading Daryl to try and find the basement.

We ended up in the kitchen. Everything was dusty or falling apart. The back door was nailed shut, but there was another door in here and I bet it led to the cellar. It was hard to pull open, even with Daryl helping me, but when we opened it, we groaned. It was just a closet filled with long expired canned goods.

 **"How are we supposed to get down there?"**

 **"Maybe there's a dumbwaiter around."**

We started feeling around the walls for the contraption and Daryl hit the jackpot. He pulled the slide up so we could look down the chute and dropped a can down there to estimate the distance. We could both fit in there and Daryl had me between his legs as we lowered ourselves. It was pitch black when we got to the bottom and we both fell out.

It took me a second to find my flashlight, but when I did, I was alone.

 **"Daryl, I swear to God, you'd better not try to scare me."**

No answer. The guys were nonstop at spooking us tonight. I walked around the new room and the rusty pipes were groaning all over the place. I was getting bored now. I was expecting to see ghost with blood pouring from its mouth or hear a little girl's eerie laugh before seeing her black demon eyes.

 _Wanna play? W_ _e can be friends forever.  
_

A voice echoed and I sighed. Carol was in on scaring me too.

 **"Sure, let's play."**

There was a tiny laughter before I heard sneakers skipping on the ground.

 _Play with me, find me, set me free. I'm hiding and you have to seek._

The little chant continued and I got closer to it. I went through an open door and the voice stopped. I took a look around, but my jaw dropped when I saw it. The trunk.

I put my ear to the trunk as I knocked on it. There was something thick inside, but I heard light tapping...mimicking my knock. There wasn't a lock on the chest, but there were leather straps and I slowly undid them. I opened the trunk and saw a bunch of stained cloths. The spots were darkened with age, but looked like...blood.

 _Friend..._

A hand reached from the pile and grabbed my wrist. I screamed and jerked my arm away as another hand poked out.

 _Play with me, friend! Be Penny's friend forever!_

Penny? Like the dead girl who died in here, Penny?!

 **"Carol, this isn't funny! Cut it out!"**

 _FRIENDS FOREVER!_ The high voice shrieked and I ran out when I saw it rising from the chest.

 **"Daryl! Where are you?!"**

I called him as I ran through the basement, but nobody answered. The rope to the dumbwaiter was cut when I found it again, but I heard the padding of flesh on the cold floor like someone was running on their feet and hands.

 **"Zayla?"** I heard Demetri's voice and saw the light of his flashlight shine down a flight of stairs we couldn't find. I ran up the steps as quick as I could and slammed the door shut.

 **"What's with you? You look like you just saw a ghost."**

 _DON'T LEAVE ME! WE'RE FRIENDS FOREVER!  
_

Penny's voice came from the basement and banged on the door. We pushed it, so she couldn't get out until we heard her crying and going back down the steps. Was that really her? I think Demetri wanted to take back what he said because he looked as scared as I was.

 **"Where is everyone?"**

 **"I don't know. I split from 'Chonne when I heard you scream. She's waiting upstairs."**

We ran through the living room and I noticed that more of the furniture was unveiled, but I didn't care about it. We got to the room Demetri said he left Michonne in and she was impatiently waiting.

 **"You really don't know how to stop do you?"**

 **"What have I done?"**

 **"Don't play dumb, Demetri. I saw you dragging that stupid mannequin down the hall."**

 **"I was with Zayla the whole time."  
**

They kept going back and fourth, but I was focused on the closet. I swear it was slowly opening and the inside was pitch dark, but it couldn't be. I was just freaked out.

 **"You're jokes aren't funny anymore!"**

 **"I haven't done anything!"**

 **"You can't be mature for 2 seconds, Demetri! I can't-"** Michonne's sentence was cut off with her scream as she was pulled into the closet. Demetri and I tried to open it, banging on the doors as Michonne's screams came from the other side.

 **"Get me out of here!"**

The unmistakeable sound of scissors snipping was almost as loud as her screams, but they all stopped. We called for her, but she didn't answer. I heard the slow, heavy footsteps coming down the hall and we peeked out to see a tall figure dragging something down the hall, the red cape trailing behind the...body...Lucas?

 **"I'll make him into something new."** The figure drug him into another room and slammed the door shut.

What the hell was going on!? The creaking of the closet made us slowly turn and a few seconds later, a mannequin rolled out. It looked like it had a thick pelt on it...dark...skin and...Michonne's hair and headpiece. I had to pull Demetri out because we had to find everyone and get help.

We were back downstairs, but I couldn't get the front door open.

 **"A little help, Demetri!"**

I turned around and his back was to me. When he faced me, I saw the fresh line on blood across his neck before he collapsed and was pulled into the darkness. I slumped against the door and tired to breathe. Carol, Skylar and Daryl are missing and I think I just saw Michonne, Lucas and Demetri...die. We shouldn't have come to this stupid house.

I was on the verge of tears and they fell when I heard that padding again.

 _Friend?_

The padding got closer and I screamed.

 _I found you, friend! You'll stay here with me forever!_

I shut my eyes and covered my ears, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes to a white light and I heard the snickering. When my eyes adjusted, I saw...all of them.

All my friends waited until I looked at them before they busted out laughing and clapping like mentally challenged seals.

 **"I thought you were all dead!"** I shot up, fists balled.

Carol came to hug me, still laughing with them.

 **"Don't take it personally, but we had to scare you. You're not afraid of anything and I had some fake blood left."**

 **"We'll look back on this and have a good laugh about it."** Skylar pat my shoulder, but I shrugged him away because he was still laughing!

I wanted to drop dead when I saw Daryl with my camcorder.

 **"You too?"**

 **"Sorry, Z."**

 **"ALL OF YOU ARE SICK!"**

I grabbed my candy bag and stormed out. I was about to pee myself thinking they all got massacred by ghosts! They bragged about their little prank as they got their stuff. Carol was in that trunk and chasing me around, Skylar was on Daryl's shoulders when they dragged Lucas down the hall and Michonne decorated that mannequin and was snipping scissors when she was in the closet. Carol put the rest of her fake blood on Demetri and make it look like someone slit his throat. Daryl got the whole thing.

I was so pissed off at all of them and they dropped me off first. I had my back to the door as I glared at them.

 **"C'mon, Zayla. That was funny."**

 **"It wasn't! I really thought all of you got hurt! I'd never do something like that to any of you!"**

They all started giggling again and I heard the door open. A mouth went over my neck and I screamed as the blood poured down my chest. All my friends screamed when they saw the chunk of flesh in the zombie's mouth and they were running home seconds later.

 **"You think we scared them too bad?"** Dad asked as I grabbed the camcorder Daryl dropped.

 **"Nope, that was perfect."**

Dad laughed with me and we got out of our costumes. I offered my candy to him, but he said he was sick of candy from a game he and the other parents played while we were out.

I called everyone to make sure they got home safe and they were mad at me for scaring them. What did they expect?

Halloween was a night of trick or treats.


	8. Premiere

_**I forgot I wrote this one and it's been forever since I updated this story. I'm not sure if I'll get inspired to write more chapters or if this is the end, so I'll keep it open for awhile :3**_

* * *

 **"Drag, Daryl!"  
**

 **"Drag what?"**

 **"Your foot!"**

It was too late. I felt something go under the board and I was on the ground, groaning. I heard Zayla laughing as she ran to get her board before she came to see if I was still in one piece.

 **"I thought this was gonna be easy."**

 **"Don't start."**

 **"I can ride a motorcycle, a skateboard ain't nothin'. Those were your exact words."**

 **"I said don't start."** I pulled her on me and she giggled when I tickled her. She laid on me to give me a hug and I kissed her forehead. This boyfriend thing wasn't as hard as I thought.

Zayla's Pop got her a skateboard a few weeks ago and she's really good at it. She was already friends with that skater pack from school, so I guess they've been giving her lessons. I didn't think it's be so hard and I said I could ride it, no problem. That's what I get for being cocky. The only thing I didn't like about her having the board was that she didn't wear the protective gear and I don't know if she got any scrapes since she got it. The last thing I wanted to see was her with a cast on her arm.

We were in an abandoned lot that used to be a building, but it got knocked down and the leftover rubble made it into a pretty decent skate park. Zayla rolled next to me and we stared at the clouds. She sighed happily and put her head on my chest.

 **"We should skip the rest of the week."**

 **"They're throwin' a party on Friday, aren't they?"**

 **"Oh, yeah...still, we should skip."** I chuckled.

We were Seniors and tomorrow would mark the last 2 weeks of school. Time really flies. Since there were only 2 weeks left in this month, Senior Prom was going to be sometime in the first week of next month and the graduation ceremony was the week after. I was surprised to get my cap in gown in the mail. College wasn't in my future. I never wanted to go and I knew I couldn't afford it. Zayla hasn't said anything about it, but with her grades, she probably had scholarships piling up for her. My mood dampened when I thought of that. What if she did want to go? Would she leave and we'd never see each other again? What if she found someone else while she was there? She said she was happy with me and we've been together for awhile not, but there was someone better for her out there...

 **"What's going on in there?"** Zayla tapped my head and smiled.

 **"Nothin'..."**

 **"Daryl-"**

 **"Don't we gotta go meet Carol?"** She perked up when I said that and pulled me up.

We were killing time until Carol got back home. We were going to Michonne's house for some kind of get-together. We were walking down Carol's block when she called Zayla and instead of answering the phone like a normal person, she yelled her name from halfway down the street.

After Carol's birthday party, Michonne and Skylar have been asking to hang out with me and Zayla more often. They didn't treat me like I thought they would. They didn't act nice to be polite, they didn't ask too many questions, they weren't annoying and they never talked about me behind my back. I knew Zayla wouldn't hang around them if they did. I have to admit, I'm starting to like being around them. After our Halloween night, I haven't heard anything from Carol in a while and I was looking forward to hanging out with her.

Carol got in distance and she waved to me before they hugged.

 **"I'm glad you brought Daryl. I thought I was going to be the only one with a guy friend."**

 **"Oooh, Tony's joining us?"**

 **"Um..."**

 **"Carol, c'mere."**

Carol let Zayla's hands go when another voice came behind her. Ed Peletier. Carol started walking to him, but Zayla's hold made it so that she couldn't get farther than an arm's length. She nudged Carol behind her and narrowed her eyes at Ed. This was going to be good.

 **"Didn't I tell you to stay the hell away from her?"**

 **"** **She came to me."**

 **"Oh, I know and I know why. You ran your mouth like the little bitch you are and got Tony jumped."**

 **"You'd better watch your mouth."**

 **"Why don't you make me, you f-"**

 **"Zayla, don't."** Carol's head was down, but Zayla didn't even look at her.

Ed was much bigger than her, had at least 5 inches and 100-some pounds on her, but Zayla wasn't one to back down because of a bigger opponent. The girl was fighting Seniors when she was a Freshman.

I didn't really know him, but I knew he was a sleaze-bag, had the face of one too. I've heard him talk tough when I'd pass him in the halls, but I've never seen the guy fight and **a lot** of people want to fight him. I bet half the guys in school did. He's a shit talking trouble maker and that was enough to make me not like him.

 **"Carol."** He said sternly, but Zayla slung her arm over Carol's shoulders and turned her away from him. I decided to walk in back of them to keep my eye on Ed. He gave me a bad vibe. I didn't give guys too many chances when it came to Zayla and he was on his last one.

 **"What the hell, Carol?"** I heard Zayla whisper.

 **"It's fine, Zayla. There's nothing wrong with us."**

 **"There shouldn't be an us in the first place! He's the reason why you've been so distant."**

 **"...I've just been busy."**

 **"We don't get any work from school and we have the same schedule for the library. What could you possibly be busy with?"**

 **"It's just...family stuff. Please, Zayla, stop getting so worked up about this."**

 **"Why didn't you tell me?"** Carol didn't say anything. **"Look, I don't care if you wanna date...whatever he is, but the second I see something wrong with you-"**

 **"There's nothing wrong!"**

Zayla dropped the conversation after that, but she didn't let Carol go back to Ed. I don't think she believed her. I didn't either. The way Carol spoke was guarded and that wasn't anything like her personality. She was a bit soft-spoken, but it was only around strangers. When Carol was around her friends, she was bubbly, always smiling and open-minded just like we all were when our little group got together. Carol had this...mask on. It was like she was hiding something, but she didn't want anyone to know about it...I knew that feeling all too well...

The girls didn't speak for the rest of the walk, but Zayla kept looking back at Ed with this pissed off glare in her eyes. When we got to Michonne's house, the sun was starting to go down and the sky was beautiful when it was coated in that orange-purple. Michonne answered and she was really happy to see all of us, but she got one look at Ed and had Zayla's glare. She almost slammed the door in his face.

 **"Skylar and Lucas are out back. Daryl...Ed, could you go help them set up?"** I nodded, but Ed didn't say anything.

Carol started following us out, but Michonne asked her and Zayla to help her with the snacks. Like she said, Skylar and Lucas were in the backyard trying to set up tents. They got 2 up, but it looked like they were having a hard time with the rest. They kindly greeted me and I helped them...with no help from Ed.

We got all the tents pitched, but the girls didn't come out yet and I noticed Ed was gone. I went inside and they were all in the kitchen.

 **"Maybe you should mind your own damn business."**

 **"And maybe you loose a few hundred pounds."** Michonne laughed, but she and Zayla were body guarding Carol.

Ed was towering over both of them, but the doorbell rang and Michonne went to answer, keeping her eyes on Ed. I came in and got a look a Carol. I couldn't really tell because she wouldn't let me see her face, but it looked like she cried recently.

Ed took a few steps back from Zayla when he saw the look I was giving him and Michonne came back in with Demetri. He pulled her closer to him when he saw Ed, but he gave me a friendly handshake.

 **"Zayla, could you go get the projector? It's upstairs."** When Zayla didn't move, Michonne laughed and pulled her out and asked me to go with her while everyone else piled out in the backyard.

Zayla knew the house and went into a closet to get the film projector. It was one that would be used in a movie theater. I got the films, in their circular cases, but I switched with Zayla because that bulky thing looked heavy. When we came back out, everyone was in their tents and had snacks to themselves.

 **"I** **am not about to sit here and watch soundless, black and white movies."** Skylar said as I set the projector on the small table. Michonne playfully punched him before she got up to set everything and I went to the unoccupied tent with Zayla.

 **"They're not black and white films, Sky. Dad updated his collection."**

 **"Remember that weird French movie he showed us, Zayla?"**

 **"The one with the mimes that kept moving and the thunder?"**

Zayla and Skylar did some of the things they saw in the movie and got laughs from everyone. Those foreign movies were weird. Demetri pulled the small, cube speakers to the front of the line of tents and now, we were waiting for it to get darker so we'd be able to see the movie play on the back of the house. Everyone started chattering about random things, but I noticed that Carol always looked at Ed before she said anything and she didn't smile as much as I was used to seeing. Maybe she was feeling sick or something.

 **"We should go out with a bang on the last day of school."**

 **"Zayla, if whatever you're thinking about has fire involved, I'm not participating."**

 **"You weren't saying that when we set half the town on fire, now were you, Skylar?"**

 **"I still can't believe you guys were part of that. Well, I can believe Zayla was."** Michonne nudged Zayla and a round of laughs followed.

 **"Speaking of school, any ideas for Senior Prom?"** Lucas said to Skylar's interest.

 **"As everyone probably knows, Zayla won't be going because she's got a phobia of dresses."**

 **"I'm not afraid of a dress!"**

 **"Demetri already has our colors picked out."** Demetri kissed Michonne's hand and she blushed when we awed at them.

 **"Lucas is the same, always thinking ahead. He's got the colors, the corsages, the ride-"**

 **"And the crown for my King since the school is filled with homophobic douche bags that won't give same gender coronations."**

 **"We didn't get enough signatures?"** Lucas shook his head and everyone groaned.

We all led a petition to get the school to do same gender crownings and the principal said we had to get enough people to agree to it. We weren't just doing it for Skylar and Lucas either. There were a few same sex couples at school and they helped us with spreading the word. We really did get a lot of the students to sign for it, some of the teachers too, but I guess it just wasn't enough.

 **"Fuckin' queers."** Ed muttered and all eyes turned to him.

 **"Isn't it time for you to leave?"**

 **"Zayla!"** Michonne said half-hardheartedly.

Lucas and Skylar didn't say anything. They just cuddled up with each other and made sure Ed got a good view of them when they kissed. I didn't have a problem with gays so long as they didn't try anything with me and they were cool people. We went back to talking and I didn't hear anything else come from Ed, but he kept staring at Skylar and Lucas. When it was dark enough, Michonne went back to the projector to put the strip on and everyone got comfortable. I used to be conservative with Zayla because I didn't like people starting, but I was fine with showing affection around others now. I put my arm around her and she got closer to me.

 **"Oh, I forgot the drinks. Someone go get them?"**

 **"Why don't you get them Ed? Give us all a minute of peace and you could really use the exercise."** Ed glared at Zayla, but she just smiled as the rest of us didn't try to keep our giggles quiet.

Ed nudged Carol and she got up to go inside. I followed her and saw her struggling to pull the heavy case of sodas off the top of the fridge. I got them down for her and she smiled.

 **"Thanks, Daryl."**

 **"It's a man's job to do all the heavy work, not make his woman do it."** Carol looked at me and I saw it.

That mask I felt like she was wearing was pulled off her face and I saw the sadness behind her eyes. She looked like she wanted to say something and I waited for her to, but she had that disguise on again. I realized the fake happiness she put on display and she ducked her head away from me.

 **"You know, you can say if something's wrong."** That hopeful face looked up at me and I was blushing for some reason, so I shifted my weight on my feet. **"Z or 'Chonne are better at talkin' about...girl stuff..."**

 **"Girl stuff?"** She giggled.

 **"You know, boys, skirts and nail polish. All that junk or whatever it is y'all talk about."**

 **"Zayla talking about skirts and nail polish? She'd skin you if she found out you said that."**

She crossed her arms like she was waiting for a bargain if she kept her mouth shut, but smiled again. This was the Carol I was used to. Maybe she just wasn't feeling well earlier.

 **"The hell are you doing in here?"** Ed's voice turned Carol back into the person she wasn't. **"You can't do anything right, can you?"**

 **"I was getting the sodas like you asked."**

 **"Then why does he have them?"**

 **"Because she would've hurt herself tryin' ta' get them down."** Carol glanced at me before she went back to looking at her fiddling fingers.

 **"She could've done it herself. Get the damn box."** Carol tried to take it from me, but I didn't let her. The box was about as heavy as the projector.

I put the case on the counter and closed the distanced between me and Ed. There was something going on with Carol and he was part of her problem. From in back of him, I saw Zayla and Demetri leaning on either side of the door and they looked like they were plotting murder.

 **"She ain't a fuckin' slave."**

 **"She's my girlfriend and she'll do what I say. Just because you can't control that wild chick of yours, don't mean I ain't got no control over mine."**

I looked behind him again and I expected Zayla to be coming over to knock his teeth out, but she didn't. She looked at me and punched her hand, telling me to do it for her and right now, I really wanted to. She's been letting me deal with her male fights, as rare as they were.

 **"Daryl was just being helpful."** Carol mumbled and Ed mocked her before huffing.

 **"This visit is over. We're going home."** He grabbed Carol's wrist to lead her to the living room where our jackets and the girls' bags were. **"Hurry up."** He pushed Carol to the sofa and she started gathering her things. I pushed him and saw the others coming in.

 **"Don't let me see you put your fucking hands on her again."**

 **"No problem."** What the hell was that supposed to mean?

 **"Carol, y** **ou leaving?** **"** Michonne called, but Carol didn't look at her as she and Zayla went to her. **"We haven't even watched the movie yet."**

 **"...I know, it's okay. Next time, 'Chonne."**

 **"You don't have to leave. Nobody's making you go and we all want _you_ here." ** Zayla said and Carol hesitated. She gripped the strap of her bag.

 **"Let's go, Carol. Stop wasting my time or it'll be worse."**

 **"What's gonna be worse?"** Zayla turned to Ed. The amount of sarcasm in her voice was unmistakable.

 **"I told you to keep your nose out of her business."**

 **"And I told you to loose a couple pounds, but it looks like you gained a few."**

 **"That mouth of yours is gonna get you into trouble. You should know better than to talk back to a man."**

 **"I don't see a man. I see a fat, ugly, rat-faced asshole who's gonna get his ass kicked by this little lady if he doesn't leave her friend alone."** Michonne went next to Zayla and the same barrier they had her behind in the kitchen was up again.

Ed looked annoyed, but I guess he tried to keep it hidden and he pushed between the girls. Zayla fell into me and Demetri caught Michonne before she hit the floor. Ed was already dragging Carol down the street when we got out there, but what we saw was unreal. Carol said something, barely a word and Ed's hand went over her face. She cried instantly and clutched the now red spot.

 **"What did I tell you about talking back to me?!"** He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, violently.

The next half hour consisted of Demetri and I kicking Ed's ass. Skylar and Lucas kept the girls at bay at first, but their attention went to Carol. They actually had to stop us or else we wouldn't have ever let up. Ed scrambled away and they dragged us inside.

Michonne was on the phone and Carol was in Zayla's embrace. She wasn't bleeding, but she was crying her heart out.

 **"You guys can stay over. I've got some jammies you can borrow."**

 **"Alright, I'll call my Dad."** Michonne held Carol as Zayla made her call.

After a while in silence, Carol started crying harder and the girls took her upstairs. All the guys had the same look on their faces, but we did all we could do. I knew any of them would protect Carol from him if she asked, but she had to do her part in staying away from him. We didn't hear anything from upstairs until someone screamed about graduation and there were more happy squeals. We could still hear the girls chattering, but they were getting closer to the staircase.

 **"OPEN THE DOOR!"**

 **"HURRY UP!"**

Lucas went to open the back door as the rest of us peered over the railing. The girls were all on a mattress like it was a sled with Carol in front, but she got in back of Zayla before they pushed down the steps. They slid down, screaming, went right into the backyard and fell on the grass. They were laughing on their backs and on the verge of crying.

 **"You were supposed to open the front door."**

 **"But we're in the backyard."**

 **"What the hell, guys?"** The tears came when they started laughing again and it was contagious because Skylar was loosing his shit.

He and Demetri dragged the mattress to the front for trash and we all came back to finally watch the movie. We were watching _The Mummy_ series and everyone was in their tents until Zayla saw Carol by herself. She didn't look like she was sad, but Zayla tiptoed to everyone's tent. We all managed to fit into one and we watched the trilogy. Popcorn was thrown when a bad guy came on or when someone got up to go to the bathroom. We stayed to help clean up and everyone thanked Michonne for inviting us.

Zayla was at my truck, hugging me as I leaned on it.

 **"Y'all gonna be in there alone?"**

 **"No. 'Chonne's parents are coming home a little later."**

 **"...call me if he comes back."**

She looked up at me and I tried not to look back because I knew she had the biggest smile on her face.

 **"Protecting your _friends_ , Daryl?"**

 **"Shut up."** She giggled and I hugged her tighter.

She knew I was serious about Ed, but she was right about what I was protecting. Michonne and Carol were my friends. I had their numbers, I know where they live, I've been to both of their houses, their parents have met me a few times and I hang out with them. I've noticed that I'm not home as much as I used to be. This little pack of friends we shared always wanted us to be somewhere together and I looked forward to hanging out with them.

 **"Alright, get outta here. I need to shower before 'Chonne uses all the fruity soap."**

 **"You're forgetting something."**

 **"Nope, I got everything."** Zayla started walking away, but I pulled her back to me, not being able to stop my smile when I saw hers.

I wrapped my arms around her waist to give her a little boost before we kissed. I loved that she was a little shorter than me because I could do this all the time. The thing about kissing her was that I didn't want to stop and that would lead to things we couldn't do right now. Actually, we might be able to if I could get her in my-

 **"Ooooh, what's going on out here?"** Michonne's voice made me put Zayla down and I felt the heat creeping on my face. Zayla even looked like she was blushing. **"You guys want a minute...or an hour? We got time."**

 **"Don't start, 'Chonne."**

 **"Zayla, I will tell him all the kinky shit you're into right now."**

 **"And I'll tell Demetri about your little fetish."** Michonne's eyes narrowed at Zayla and she did something with her hands that left Michonne gaping in surprise.

Zayla gave me another hug and Michonne high-fived me before they went inside. I stayed a few minutes before I went home.

It was nice having friends.


End file.
